


Out Of The Bag

by scarletmanuka



Series: The Centenarian, The Teen, and The One In Between [25]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, He wants to murder everyone, M/M, Multi, Relationship Reveal, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, The boys against the world, Winter will not stand for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka
Summary: During a mission, Peter is injured. Tony, Bucky, and Winter rush to his side but in their relief at finding him alive, inadvertantly reveal not only that they are all in a relationship, but also Peter's real identity.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Peter Parker/Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Tony Stark/James "Bucky" Barnes/Winter
Series: The Centenarian, The Teen, and The One In Between [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1026609
Comments: 536
Kudos: 435
Collections: Spider-Man Public Identity Reveal





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this series was started long before we found out when Peter's birthday was so in this it's in May.

Peter would never forget the headlines that were splashed over the evening papers that fateful Saturday.

SPIDER-MAN’S IDENTITY REVEALED:

YOUNG LOVER OF IRON MAN AND WINTER SOLDIER

Peter Parker - Spiderman, high schooler, and sex slave to Avengers.

SUPER BOYFRIENDS? The Avengers’ harem secret.

And it was all his fault. As usual. The cat was out of the bag and if he’d just been a little bit more careful, then none of this would ever have happened. If he’d not gotten hurt, _again_ , then the world wouldn’t know and would still love Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Winter Soldier, because right now, they hated them.

oOoOo

_Earlier._

Bucky swiped one of the small, robotic drone things out of the sky, sending it hurtling into a brick wall where it fell to the ground, crushed and buzzing. He walked over and stomped down on it, crushing it even more until the buzzing stopped and whatever caused the electrical charge was disabled. The last thing that they needed was for some innocent civilian to poke at it and get electrocuted. 

_“Has anyone seen anything yet?”_ Tony asked over the comms.

 _“Negative,”_ Hope replied.

 _“I have not,”_ was Vision’s calm and steady reply.

 _“Not yet,”_ said Peter.

 _“Not a Goddamn thing,”_ Scott said and then yelped. _“Son of a...! Guys, be careful, these things really pack a punch and I wasn’t even close. If anyone gets zapped by one of these things, you’re gonna be in trouble. Like, heart stopping trouble.”_

 _“Copy that,”_ Tony replied, and from far above, Bucky saw him take out four of the robot things with one blast. _“Vis will be fine but the rest of you should all pair up. I’ve got defib capacity with my suit so if anyone gets hit, you let me know ASAP.”_

 _“Good plan,”_ Hope agreed. _“I’m already near Scott, Bucky you find Spidey.”_

 _“On it,”_ Bucky confirmed and he headed back down towards where he’d last seen Peter. 

_“Just remember to keep an eye out for anyone dodgy,”_ Tony reminded them all. _“These things are being controlled from close by so they’re within a two block radius.”_ _  
_

Bucky found Peter ushering pedestrians into the safety of a nearby building. One woman in her early twenties was begging for a selfie, and Pete being Pete, he happily obliged, before making sure that the door was safely closed. He turned back and saw Bucky and loped over. “Hey, guys,” he said, always making it a habit to greet both Bucky _and_ Winter, no matter who was in the driver’s seat.

“Hey, doll.”

 _Hi,_ _malen'kiy pauk_

“Winter says hi.”

He couldn’t see Peter’s face under the mask but he knew him, knew his body language and he could tell that Peter was beaming at them both. Then they both turned as more of the small robots came at them and they were busy for some time as they fought them off. They soon had a rhythm going, working together seamlessly: Peter would catch them in his webs and then throw them against the ground, where Bucky would come and finish them off, making sure that they were crushed into oblivion. 

“How many more of them can there be?” Peter asked as they fought off another wave.

 _“Friday’s scans indicate that the numbers_ **_are_ ** _dwindling,”_ Karen supplied helpfully and Peter just grunted in reply.

“You’re doing great, doll, we’re getting there,” Bucky said, not only to encourage Peter but also himself. They’d been at it for hours now and still they had no clue who was controlling the robots. He was beginning to tire but he just had to push through it, to keep going until they could finally defeat whatever asshole was doing this. The problem was, how would they ever _find_ whoever it was while they were so busy fighting the robot drone things. As far as distractions went, this one was a doozy. 

Then Peter deployed some well timed web grenades, catching almost all of the robots around them in one fell swoop and together they worked at crushing them all, turning them into nothing more than useless scrap metal.

“Come on,” Peter panted, “we need to go and help the others.”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. “Keep an eye open though. We still need to find this son of a bitch.” He threw the words over his shoulder as he ran, his eyes constantly scanning their surroundings, making threat assessments. Peter shot a web at a nearby building, swinging in front of Bucky, keeping watch from above. They took out a number of robots on their way to where Hope and Scott were battling a large swarm, but the numbers did seem to be dropping. It was something at least. They fought their way through the swarm, meeting up with their teammates, and with their help, they’d soon eliminated all of the drones.

Bucky was breathing hard by the end, and so were the others. Super soldier or not, the battle had been exhausting. 

“Has anyone seen Tony or Vision?” Peter asked, scanning the area.

“They were one block over the last time we saw them,” Hope said, and without a word, all four of them took off.

When they arrived, Tony was just destroying three drones and Vision was pulling a woman and her child from a car that had been crushed when part of a building had fallen from an explosion. The air was acrid with smoke, and yet it was eerily quiet. 

_Something is not right,_ Winter said inside his mind.

Tingles went up Bucky’s spine and he grunted in agreement. 

_“Has anyone had any luck finding -”_ Tony began to say over the comms but he was cut short by a man in a green cape and metal mask striding nonchalantly out onto the street from a nearby parking garage. 

Everyone was instantly on alert, forming up in a semi circle around the stranger, with Tony hovering above, repulsors aimed at him. “Stop right there, it’s over,” Tony told him.

The man simply laughed, deep and booming, amplified by his metal mask. “Oh, I think not,” the man said in a thick European accent. “The fun is only beginning!”

“We’ve got you surrounded, you’ve got nowhere to go,” Tony disagreed.

Bucky could feel Winter’s desire to rush the man, to eliminate the threat without wasting time on meaningless small talk, and he totally agreed. The Avengers always tried to subdue and capture their villains, and avoid bloodshed if they could and so they had no choice but to stand by and watch while this played out. Of course, if this masked madman did anything that put either Tony or Peter at risk, well, nothing would stop Bucky and Winter from ripping the man to shreds. 

“Your weapons are powerless against me,” the man sneered.

Tony didn't bother with a reply, just fired a repulsor at the man. The burst of energy seemed to bounce off a forcefield of some kind, not even coming close to disabling him. 

“I rest my case,” the man sneered.

“Who the hell are you?” Scott asked.

“Doctor Victor Von Doom, at your service,” he replied with a jaunty half bow.

“I’ve heard of you,” Tony said. “You're from Latveria, and you’re known for your dangerous experiments mixing mechanics and sorcery.”

“Ah, my reputation precedes me,” Doom said, sounding pleased.

“The Sorcerer Supreme warned me about you,” Tony told him. “He said you were mentally unstable and dangerous.”

Doom shrugged. “We can’t all be perfect. Now, shall we move on from this idle chit chat and begin discussing my demands?”

Hope arched a perfectly manicured brow at him. “You still think you have the upper hand here?”

“Oh, my dear, I _know_ I do,” Doom all but purred. 

And then the attack from behind them hit.

Chaos descended as they began to defend themselves from more robots, larger ones than the small drone-like ones they’d been fighting for most of the day. These ones didn't jus zap you when they were destroyed but fired bursts of electricity as a weapon.

 _“Vision, I need you to go after Doom,”_ Tony’s voice came over the comms as they scattered. _“I’m hoping you can phase past whatever forcefield he has so you can disarm him.”_

 _“I shall do my best,”_ Vision replied.

 _“These fuckers are mean,”_ Peter cried, flinging webs in every direction to avoid them.

“Look out!” Bucky cried as he caught sight of a robot coming up behind Peter in his bind spot. Peter half turned but before he could do anything, a bolt of electricity hit him square in the back, sending his convulsing body to the ground.

Bucky heard himself scream but he found himself shunted to the back of his mind as Winter took over, fighting ruthlessly to where Peter lay, still and lifeless. He could hear Hope yelling for Tony to come, as Winter plowed through the robots like a knife through butter. He was ignoring the exhaustion that was settling over their shared body, ignoring the aches and pains of the small injuries that Bucky had sustained during the fight, taking down whatever was between the two of them and Peter. Bucky didn’t care that Winter had taken over without permission or even a warning, knowing that Winter was the one most capable of getting through whatever obstacle was in their path. He may prefer to stay out of fights as much as possible, abhorring violence since he’d emerged, but when it was needed, he would willingly put his skills to good use.

They reached Peter’s side just after Tony landed and they watched helplessly as he pulled off Peter’s mask and then used the suit’s capabilities to shock Peter’s lifeless heart. “Come on, Petey, come on,” Tony was whispering, his mask raised as he waited for Friday’s readings. Bucky and Winter couldn’t hear her but she must have instructed him to shock him again and Peter’s body jerked and jolted as even more electricity flowed through him.

And then with a gasp, Peter’s eyes flew open and he coughed and sputtered.

Winter dropped to his knees beside Peter, a hand on his shoulder and his other finding the fingers of the Iron Man suit and tangling them together. “Malen'kiy pauk, are you okay?” Winter asked, his voice hoarse.

“Ow,” Peter groaned. “It hurts all over.”

“Oh, baby, you had us so scared,” Tony said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Winter retreated back to the space in their mind, and Bucky found himself kneeling on the hard ground. He could feel Winter’s distress, and understood it all too well. He’d watched once before as Peter’s heart had stopped and it had been too much for him, and he’d been the one who had retreated, forcing Winter into the driver’s seat for the first time. It appeared that watching it happen in real life was too much for Winter as well, and Bucky couldn’t blame him for needing to take a backseat. 

He glanced around and saw that Vision had Doom restrained and the robots that hadn't been destroyed were now laying lifeless on the ground. Knowing that they were safe for the time being, Bucky slid a hand under Peter’s shoulders and helped him sit up, and then the three of them were embracing, holding each other tightly. 

“Fuck, Peter, don’t do that to us ever again,” Tony murmured, covering Peter’s face with feather light kisses.

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispered, and buried his face against Bucky’s throat.

“It’s okay, doll, we were just scared that we’d lost you,” Bucky told him.

“I love you guys so much,” Peter said, lifting his face up so Bucky could kiss him. He then turned his head and captured Tony’s lips as well before they all just collapsed against one another, taking comfort in their closeness.

“Uh, guys?” Hope said, her voice strained. “I think we’ve got a problem.”

Tony groaned. “Uh, what now?”

They all looked up and looked to where Hope was pointing. “That, that’s the problem.”

Standing outside one of the cafes they had been sheltering in were a group of civilians, and they all had their phones out, some clearly filming the trio. 

“Ah, fuck,” they all said as one.

The cat was out of the bag.


	2. Chapter 2

A sense of deja vu flooded Peter as he sat on one of the plush chairs in the corridor outside of Pepper’s office. Bucky obviously felt it too and he reached over and took his hand, squeezing gently. Peter leaned his head against Bucky’s shoulder and he felt Tony’s warm palm rub over his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” Tony assured them. “We have the best PR team in the world, we’ll fix this.”

Peter shrugged, doubting that anything could fix this but not wanting to voice it out loud. If only he’d been more careful, if only he’d been more aware of his surroundings, then none of this would have happened. It was all his fault and Tony and Bucky were going to get dragged over the coals for this. 

The door opened and Pepper gestured for them to enter, and one by one, like naughty school boys, they filed inside. She walked around her desk and sat, her eyes hard as she glared at all of them. Tony didn't seem deterred and asked, “The team’s on it?”

Her steely gaze focussed on him. “Yes, Tony, the team is on it, however, I believe that there is very little good that can come from this.”

“Pfft, come on, Pep, they’re the best at what they do.”

“The best can only do so much, Tony.”

“Well maybe I’m paying them too much?” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

One of Pepper’s hands slapped down on the desk, causing Peter to jump. “This is not a _joke_ , Tony,” she snapped. “Do you know the sort of trouble you could be in?”

“Actually, Peter has been legal since he turned seventeen, Pepper. What we’re doing isn’t against the law.”

“Be that as it may, it is morally reprehensible. My main concern however is that the police will look into this matter simply because the last time I had a conversation with two of the people in this room, Peter was most definitely _not_ legal.” Her gaze turned to Peter and Bucky and he squirmed under her scrutiny. “You both assured me that there was nothing between you, that it was all to stop Peter from being bullied. You not only lied to the police, but you lied to _me._ I cannot even begin to express how disappointed I am in both of you.” Her eyes swung back to Tony. “And _you,_ you found out about this and instead of putting a stop to it, you what? Decided to jump in, dick first, like you always do?”

“Hey, that’s not how it happened!” Tony exclaimed.

 _“Then explain it to me!”_ she yelled, her cheeks flushing with colour.

“Pepper,” Peter began, then flinched as she eyed him coldly. “Miss Potts,” he tried again, “this isn’t Tony’s fault.” He swallowed hard, debating whether or not he should tell her the truth or lie even more. He quickly decided to skirt the truth instead. “They didn't have sex with me before I turned seventeen, I swear.” See, that wasn’t a lie, was it? They _didn’t_ have penetrative sex with Peter before his birthday. “And everything that happened was consensual. They didn't coerce me or anything. I’m stronger than both of them, they couldn’t have forced me if they’d tried. Not that they _would!”_ He reached over and took both of his partner’s hands. “We love each other, all four of us. You may find that disgusting, but it’s not.”

Her eyes widened. “What are you saying? That _Winter_ is part of this as well?”

They all nodded.

Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back in her chair. “I need a drink,” she muttered. There was a knock at the door and she smiled grimly. “Looks like the cavalry has arrived.”

The door opened and May rushed inside, and she pulled Peter to her, squishing his face against her stomach since he was still sitting down. “Oh, Peter, are you okay? What did the doctor say?”

“May, I’m fine,” he assured her. “I was checked out after the battle but I’m fine.”

“Peter, your heart _stopped!”_ she cried. “That’s not fine!”

He reached up and covered her hand with one of his. “I am, I promise. Super healing abilities, remember?”

“Do you know how scared I was? Having to watch Tony revive you? Those people caught it all on camera!”

“I know, May, and I’m sorry. I called you as soon as I could,”

“But you didn’t say how bad it was! I had to watch that on the news!”

“I’m sorry,” he apologised again.

“Thank God that Tony, Bucky, and Winter were there.” She pulled the other two to her as well, and Peter found two other faces squished against her stomach as well. “Thank you so much for saving him,” she told them.

“Always, May,” Tony assured her.

“Bucky, is that you or Winter right now? I can never tell, sorry.”

Bucky pulled away so he could look up at her. “It’s me, but Winter is close by.”

“I saw some of the fight, I saw you trying to get to him, thank you, Winter,” she said earnestly.

Bucky smiled. “He says you’re very welcome.”

May hugged them all again but they were startled apart by Pepper demanding, “What the ever loving _fuck_ is going on? You _know_ about them?” she demanded of May.

May nodded. “Yes, ever since Peter was in his coma.”

Pepper looked shocked. “And it doesn’t bother you?”

May shook her head. “I’ve seen how much they love each other. Yes, it’s not conventional, and of course I worry about the age gap, but I know they’ll never hurt Peter.”

Pepper sighed again. “There is no way we can ever sell this to the press.”

May frowned. “Why should you have to?”

“Because we have to give some sort of explanation for what the public saw them doing.” She said it slowly, heavy with condescension but May stared her down, unimpressed.

“Why? Their private life is just that - private.”

“That’s where you're wrong,” Pepper told her. “They’re members of the Avengers and are public figures. Not only that, they were in a very public place when they were caught kissing. Private lives don’t mean anything if they don’t keep them private.”

“Well, _sorry_ for being glad that Peter was alive,” Tony snapped.

Pepper’s expression softened. “I understand that you were relieved, Tony, but now we have to come up with some sort of excuse for what you were doing.”

“Why?” Bucky asked, speaking directly to Pepper for the first time.

“What do you mean, why?” Pepper asked. “We obviously need a cover story.”

“Or we could just tell the truth,” Bucky said with a shrug. “We were planning on going public soon anyway when Petey turned eighteen and that’s only a month away. Why wait?”

Bucky turned and met Peter’s eyes, and then they both turned to Tony, silently coming to an agreement. “Sounds good to me,” Peter said.

“I’m in,” Tony agreed. “Let’s do this.”

“Oh, God,” Pepper said and covered her face with her hands.

The press conference was held an hour later and the room was packed with reporters. Peter balked a little as he walked up on stage with Tony and Bucky, feeling naked and exposed without his Spider-Man suit on. His partners flanked him, holding a hand each, and from the look on Bucky’s face, Winter was close to the surface. As journalists cried out question after question, not caring that the conference hadn’t even yet begun, his expression became colder and colder. When someone at the back called out, “Since when have Iron Man and The Winter Soldier been peadophiles?”, he looked ready to snap necks. 

“Just breathe,” Peter heard Tony say, a press smile firmly on his lips. “Ignore them, we know the truth.”

“Ladies and gentleman, may I please have your attention?” Pepper called from her place at the podium. She waited for the room to quieten before she began. “I’m sure you’re all aware as to why we’ve called this press conference.”

“Because Tony Stark is banging a minor?” a voice called out.

Pepper’s eyes narrowed. No matter how upset she had been with the trio earlier, she wasn’t going to let a reporter walk all over them. “Spider-Man, also known as Peter Parker, is technically not a minor,” she corrected. “In the state of New York, the legal age of consent is seventeen, and considering Mr Parker turns eighteen next month, he’s able to consent to this relationship.”

“Which is with both Mr Stark and Mr Barnes?” someone else asked.

“If you’d kindly allow me to make my statement, I think you’ll find that any questions you may have will be addressed.” She paused and looked sternly around the room, ensuring that she wouldn’t be interrupted once more. “Mr Stark, Mr Barnes, and Mr Parker are indeed in a polyamoros relationship and have been for some months now. The particulars of how their relationship developed will remain private, but needless to say, Mr Parker was of legal age when their sexual relationship began. Their relationship is one of a loving, consenting nature, which their close friends and family are accepting of. Their involvement with each other has not adversely affected the roles they serve within the Avengers, and they will continue to protect not only the United States of America, but also the world when the United Nations call upon them. None of them are considered a superior in the chain of command - Colonel James Rhodes leads the Avengers and they all answer to him.” She paused and looked around the room. “Their relationship may appear unconventional to some of you, but we ask that you respect their privacy. These three men have put their lives on the line, time and time again, and have asked for nothing in return. The least that the public can do is to give them their privacy. Now, we’ll open the floor to questions, but I ask that you keep them professional and family friendly. Anyone not adhering to this will be escorted from the room.” A sea of hands rose into the air and she pointed to someone near the front. “Yes?”

“Rhianna Obsidian, _Cosmo_ _Magazine._ Do you all have sex together? Or keep it to two at a time.”

Pepper turned immediately to security. “Please escort Ms Obsidian out for not following simple instructions.”

Once the room had settled after the reporter’s eviction, Pepper pointed to a different journalist.

“Ted Hampton, _Daily News._ Mr Parker, how does your family feel about this relationship? I can only imagine that your parents must have taken the news badly.”

Peter nervously stepped up to the microphone. “Well, I live with my aunt, and she’s very supportive.”

“Do you live with your aunt because your parents were unfit to raise you?” Hampton fired back.

“What? No!” Peter exclaimed. “My parents are dead.”

“Let’s move on,” Pepper announced and picked someone else.

“Mr Parker, I’m Caroline Ramiraz, _Daily Chronicle._ Tony Stark has been your mentor for several years now according to Stark Industries annual reports. Do you feel like he groomed you in order to have sexual relations with you?”

“Are you crazy? _No!”_

“Do you know what the term Ephebophilia means?” She didn’t wait for Peter to respond. “It’s the sexual attraction to mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages fifteen to nineteen, which Mr Stark and Mr Barnes clearly suffer from. Does this not bother you?”

“If I may,” Tony said, stepping up to the microphone. “I feel that I can speak for both Bucky and myself when I say that we’re not attracted to teenagers, we’re attracted to _Peter.”_

“And yet he’s still a vulnerable teenager whom you hold power over,” Ramiraz insisted.

“I disagree,” Tony said. “Peter is an exceptionally mature young man who has been dealing with the responsibility of super powers since he was fourteen. He has sacrificed a normal life in order to fight crime and keep the inhabitants of Queens safe. Not only is he emotionally mature, but he is a certified genius. If that’s not enough to convince you that he has willingly entered into this relationship, then please note that he has the strength to lift _sev_ _enty five tonne._ Bucky’s super soldier strength plus my Iron Man armour combined would not be enough to force him into anything that he did not want a part of.”

The press conference didn’t get any better. No one asked anything about Peter’s abilities, or seemed at all concerned about the reveal of his identity, all they were interested in was who he was sleeping with. No one acknowledged that they loved one another, or would even listen when they reiterated it again and again, only seeming interested in villainising Tony and Bucky and painting Peter as an innocent who had been brainwashed or forced into a relationship against his will. When Pepper finally called an end to the questions (and Peter honestly believed she allowed it to go on longer than she normally would have as some form of punishment), he was emotionally drained. 

May was waiting off stage for him and she opened her arms and hugged him tightly. “You did so well,” she assured him.

He half snorted, half sobbed. “Yeah, right. No one believed that we love one another.”

“Oh, honey, I know it’s hard right now, but try to forget about everyone else. Those who matter know and that’s all that counts.”

“I guess.”

“Now, I’m guessing you want to stay here tonight with Tony and Bucky?”

He pulled out of the hug, nodding. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, I think you all need some quiet time alone together.” She kissed his cheek and then pulled both Tony and Bucky in for a hug. “Look after my boy,” she told them.

“We will,” Bucky promised.

“It’ll blow over, boys, it always does. Goodnight.”

Peter watched her go but he found that he didn't share May’s optimism. He was scared that this was only the beginning.

oOoOo

He didn’t want to go to school, but May _and_ Pepper had insisted that Peter couldn’t allow this to affect his education, lest they cop even more flak from the naysayers. Tony and Bucky had protested, knowing that the press would be camped out at the entrance to Midtown Tech, and Winter had gone all cold and dangerous, swearing to painfully murder anyone who harrassed his little spider, but in the end, they agreed to allow Happy to drive Peter to school. He insisted on being dropped off at the back of the grounds however and he vaulted over the rear fence, hoping to go undetected for as long as possible.

As Peter made his way further inside the school grounds, he started coming across more and more of his fellow students. A hush fell as he walked towards them and they all stared, some of them pulling out their phones to take photos of him. As soon as he had passed by it was like the volume had suddenly been turned up and they would begin talking about him like he didn't even exist. Peter kept his head down and tried to ignore it all as much as possible but the more people he saw, the more he felt like he was under a microscope. He squirmed under their scrutiny, feeling a sudden surge of sympathy for Tony, for growing up under such a spotlight. 

It wasn’t long before the pointing and whispers turned into shouts and catcalls, all of it revolving around his relationship with Tony and Bucky, none of it about being Spider-Man. Anger began to grow within him, and he began to glare at the louder students, daring them to come closer and repeat what they’d just said. It seemed that none of the good that he'd done as Spider-Man - the lives he’d saved, the villains he'd stopped, the people he'd helped, mattered. It was all overshadowed by the people he happened to love, and even that was cheapened down to comments about how he liked the Iron Dick and how brutal did the Winter Soldier fuck. 

Peter reached his locker and found Ned waiting for him and he sighed a little in relief at the friendly face. “Hey,” he greeted him quietly, spinning the combination lock and pulling open the door. Several pieces of paper fluttered to the ground and he stared at them, flashes of crude words and intensely personal questions bombarding him. He grit his teeth and looked back into his locker, not bothering to pick the notes up or read them. Instead he plucked out the books that he’d need for his first couple of classes and shoved them into his bag. Ned still hadn't returned his greeting and when Peter closed the locker door and turned to him, he found his friend staring at him with big eyes. “What?” he almost snapped.

“Dude!” Ned crowed. “You never told me the two guys you were seeing were freaking Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes!”

Peter sighed. “ _That’s_ what you’re amazed about? Really? Not the whole Spider-Man thing?”

Ned shrugged. “That’s cool and all but you’re sleeping with Iron Man! What’s it like? Is he your sugar daddy? I bet he spoils you rotten. Is it kinky though? Do you have to dress in lace panties and wear make up and call him Daddy?”

Peter’s mouth dropped open in shock and he stared in horror at Ned. He knew that they had been drifting apart but he’d still expected him to be supportive and be there for him. Instead, he was just as bad as all the rest. 

Before Peter could even begin to find the words to reply, a hand clamped down on his shoulder and someone inserted themselves bodily between Ned and himself. “I’m pretty sure that’s none of your damn business, Leeds,” Flash said, his voice tight. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to Parker about the assignment we’ve got for Chemistry.”

Peter felt Flash’s hand drop down to his elbow and then he was being led away from Ned, the scowl on Flash’s face keeping the nosier students at bay. They ended up in the library at a far table and Peter collapsed into a chair, his head reeling. “Thanks,” he murmured.

“No problem,” Flash said, then pulled out a notebook. “So, what did you get for question ten? I have a feeling I stuffed it up and I want to make sure it’s right before we have to hand it in.”

Suddenly Peter relaxed, over the moon that Flash was acting as if nothing had changed, though for _him_ , nothing had. He’d been one of the few people who had been privy to _both_ of Peter’s secrets. It was a little slice of normalcy and he was grateful beyond words for the compassion that Flash was showing him. It was a far cry from how they had once been but it was the definitive proof that they were now proper friends. He took a deep breath and then pulled out his assignment. “Right, question ten. Let me have a look.”


	3. Chapter 3

Tony was ansty the entire day. He paced the penthouse, worrying constantly about Peter, and texting their group chat when he knew that Peter would be between classes.

_Tony - How’s it going? No one’s giving you too much grief, I hope?_

_Peter - I kinda figure I know how an animal in a zoo feels now...people have been pointing and staring all morning :(_

_Tony - I’m sorry, baby._

_Bucky - This is Winter - do you need me to come and make them disappear?_

_Peter - lol no, I’m all good, thanks Winter._

_Bucky - Are you sure? I can hide my tracks, no one will ever know._

_Tony - I can help him._

_Peter - Does anyone need a reminder that we’re supposed to be the GOOD guys?_

_Tony - Nothing is black and white, the good guys can have shades of grey._

_Peter - Yeah, I’m still not letting you guys assassinate some teenage douche bags._

_Bucky - This is Bucky now, Winter is sulking._

_Peter - Awww, sorry, Winter!_

_Bucky - He’ll get over it._

_Tony - It’s funny how he’s the least violent of all of us but as soon as someone threatens one of us, he goes into full on kill mode._

_Bucky - What can I say - he loves us._

_Peter - I love you guys too :-*_

_Tony - But everything else is okay? Are the teachers being okay?_

_Peter - Apart from the mortifying moment where the school counsellor pulled me into her office and asked if I needed to talk and that just because you guys are superheroes, doesn’t mean that I can’t press charges, then yes, most of them have been trying to act normal._

_Bucky - Oh, God, I’m so sorry, doll!_

_Peter - It’s okay, Buck, I swear. When she wouldn’t believe me that it was all consentual, I just told her bluntly that because of the spider bite, I had an insatiable sexual appetite and I needed people with superhuman strength to fuck me, otherwise it wasn’t satisfying._

_Bucky - Um...okay, I bet that got awkward fast._

_Tony - Don’t forget that I don’t HAVE superhuman powers._

_Peter - Oh, I told her that your dick is so big that it should count as superhuman and that I loved the way it filled me up. She let me go pretty soon after that._

_Tony - I kinda wish I’d been there to see the look on her face._

_Bucky - So all else is okay then?_

_Peter - Yeah, Flash has been really good. He’s been giving everyone the stink eye and telling them to fuck off. It’s kinda nice to not be on the receiving end of that for once lol_

_Tony - Tell him that we owe him._

_Peter - Will do. I gotta go, next class is about to start. Talk later x_

oOoOo

“Boss, Colonel Rhodes is here to see you,” Friday announced over Tony’s music that he was blaring in the lab. Bucky had finally gotten tired of his pacing and had banished him to the lab until Peter got off school but he’d not been able to concentrate on the nanotech project that he was working on.

“Oooh, thanks, baby girl. Send him in.”

“Hey, Tony,” Rhodey called as the door swished open for him. He crossed the room and pulled him into a hug.

“Hey, platypus, it’s good to see you.”

“How are you all holding up?”

Tony shrugged. “We’ll be better when Petey gets home from school. Today has been tough for him.”

Rhodey grimaced. “I bet.”

“So, what brings you round?” Tony asked. “Not that it’s not good to see you, but lately I haven’t seen much of you.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty busy for me, sorry. I just wanted to check up on you guys, and to make sure that you’re all aware that you have the complete support of the Avengers.”

Tony raised a brow. “And how do the Accords Committee feel about that?”

It was Rhodey’s turn to shrug. “Obviously they want Peter to sign now that he’s been revealed as being Spider-Man, and as to your relationship, they don’t really give a damn as long as it doesn’t affect you when we’re called in as a team.”

Tony raised a brow, not quite believing that.

“I’m serious, Tony,” Rhodey assured him. “You’re forgetting that out of the one hundred and twenty one countries that have now signed the Accords, the age of consent averages out to be about sixteen, and in a lot of those cultures, age differences in relationships are pretty common. The biggest issue isn’t even that you’re poly, but the fact that you’re all men. You won’t have any problems from that end, I guarantee.”

“That’s a relief,” he said honestly. “I don’t really care what people say about me but I know it really affects Pete, and Bucky has worked so hard on his public image that I know it hurts him to see it take a hit. At least this is one hurdle they won’t have to face.”

“I’d suggest a total media block out,” Rhodey said seriously. “Tell them to stay off social media, don’t check the news, avoid it all as much as they can. It’ll blow over soon enough and if they don’t go looking for what’s being said, they’ll avoid the worst of it.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, we’ve already figured that’s the way to go.”

Rhodey smiled. “Good, that’s good.” He looked at his watch. “Right, well I’m guessing that Peter will be here soon so I’ll head off and leave you guys be.”

“Thanks, Rhodey, for everything.” Tony pulled him into another hug. “I mean that.”

“You know I’ve always got your back.”

“I do, and you’ll never know quite how much that means to me.”

Rhodey pulled back, shaking his head. “I think I have some idea. Now, if you need me to kick anyone’s ass, just give me a call, okay.”

Tony laughed. “Yeah, okay.”

“Tell the others I said hi, we’ll get together to all hang out soon.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, honey bear.”

After Rhodey left, Tony shut down the simulation he’d been failing to work on and headed upstairs to the penthouse. Winter was sitting primly on the couch, watching the door. “Did you boot Bucky out?” Tony asked, sitting down and snuggling up next to him.

“I need to make sure Peter’s okay,” Winter said, pressing a kiss absently to Tony’s hair.

“He’s going to be okay, babe, I promise.”

“If he isn’t, I’m going to rip limbs off whoever hurt him,” Winter promised.

Tony chuckled and then laughed harder when Winter glared at him. “Sorry, sorry,” he finally managed to say. “It’s just, you’re so sweet and innocent ninety nine percent of the time and then you come out with something like that I suddenly remember that you could kill me with your little finger.”

“I would never kill _you!_ ” Winter said, shocked. “I’d only ever kill those who hurt you or Peter.” He frowned. “Or Bucky.” He frowned some more. “Or Rhodey. Or Hope. Or, well, anyone on our team.” He suddenly covered his face with his hands. “Oh, God, I’ve gone back to being a killing machine!”

Tony rubbed soothing circles on his back. “You have not, babe. Feeling protective of the ones you love isn’t wrong. You just gotta know where to draw the line between _threatening_ to rip someone limb from limb and actually _doing it._ As much as we wish it were otherwise, a teenager being a dick to Peter probably doesn’t qualify.”

Winter pouted. “It should.”

Tony laughed and pulled him into a kiss. “I love you so much.”

Winter’s expression softened. “I love you too, dorogaj.” 

The elevator dinged and Peter emerged and Winter was up and off the couch so fast that Tony almost toppled forward. He couldn’t find it in him to complain though when he watched as Winter scooped Peter up into his arms and held him close. He settled back down on the couch, wanting to give them a moment together and enjoyed watching them speak quietly together and exchange a few kisses. Winter then walked over to the couch and deposited Peter on Tony’s lap and then sat down next to them. 

“Hey, baby,” Tony said, giving Peter his own kiss. “How’s things?”

“Yeah, okay. The day didn't get any worse than when we were texting so that’s something.”

“Are you staying the night?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, May’s happy for me to stay here as much as I need this week.”

Tony smiled. “Okay, well, maybe tomorrow we can have her over for dinner so she doesn’t feel like we’re stealing you away from her.”

Peter nodded and leaned his head against Tony’s shoulder, all the while holding Winter’s flesh hand. “That would be nice.”

“What did you want to do tonight?”

“I have to do some homework, but afterwards maybe we could order in some pizza and just watch a movie? Just spend the night cuddling and making out.”

Tony kissed him softly. “Sounds good to me. Winter?”

Winter got the far away look that both he and Bucky wore when they were having an internal conversation and then he smiled. “Bucky and I are both up for that.” He leaned in so he could give Peter a kiss as well. “Especially the making out part.”

Tony laughed. “That part does sound especially good. Right, you get started on your homework, I’ll order pizza, and Winter can choose a movie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dorogaj - darling


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky’s feet pounded on the ground in a steady rhythm, his breath coming in measured inhales and exhales, and the beat of his tunes filled his ears. He - well, Winter more like - needed to burn off some energy, and so he’d gotten into his running gear and had taken off, heading uptown to Central Park. He knew that they were both very protective of their partners, but Winter had been especially angry lately and had been spouting death threats to anyone who even dared look at Peter or Tony the wrong way. Since this wasn’t a life or death situation, nor in a battle against some bad guy, Bucky figured that Winter needed the chance to cool off, their training from Hydra bubbling a little too close to the surface for comfort right now. His niece, Melanie, was coming over to visit later that afternoon and he wanted to be sure they’d both be calm enough to enjoy her visit since he didn’t get to see her as often as he'd like to.

The day was bright and sunny, but a brisk wind made the April day cool, perfect for a long run, and Bucky tried his best to not think about everything that had happened recently, to just concentrate on the meditative feel of his legs pumping.

 _This is ridiculous, moya dusha. We are allowed to be angry about this,_ Winter said to him. 

_I know we are, darling heart, but murder hasn’t miraculously been made legal,_ Bucky retorted.

 **_Thinking_ ** _about murder isn’t a crime, just doing it is._

_I think it’s a fine line, and one we don’t wanna cross._

_Spoilsport,_ Winter huffed.

Bucky grinned, and kept running, making his way through the park, ignoring the other people who were strolling or jogging as well. Even through the headphones, he could hear when people recognised him and he tried not to let their muttered comments affect him. He _knew_ that Peter wasn’t a victim, that they hadn’t done anything to coerce him into the relationship, that it was willing on everyone’s behalf, and yet he couldn’t help but feel a pang of hurt at the jibes. He’d worked hard to show the world that he wasn’t just a product of Hydra, that he was a good person who could do good things, but none of that seemed to matter now. They so easily dismissed everything he’d done whilst being with the Avengers and instead saw him as some sort of pervert. 

Even after turning up the volume, he couldn’t tune the voices out, and his upset must have been bleeding across the bond he shared with Winter. He felt a flash of anger at the members of the public but then Winter went strangely calm, and Bucky felt a momentary stab of worry at what Winter was about to do. He envisioned scenes of carnage and terror (not hard to imagine after being privy to the sorts of thoughts that Winter had been having since the press conference) but instead, he was utterly shocked.

Winter started singing.

He couldn’t really hold a tune, and he didn't really know all the words, but he sang along loudly with the music to tune out everything around Bucky. Surprisingly, it worked.

The playlist he was listening to was an eclectic mix of genres and artists, cobbled together from the Avengers when Bucky had asked them all for their favourite songs. Presently _I Want It That Way_ by the Backstreet Boys was playing.

_You are myyyyy fire_

_The one deeeeesire_

_Nah nah when I say_

_IIIIIIII want it that way!_

_But we are hmmm hmmmm hm hmmmm_

_Can't reach to your heart_

_When you say_

_That I want it that way_

Bucky laughed, a wave of emotion for Winter rolling over him, and he hummed along with him.

_Tell me whyyyyyyy_

_Ain't nothin' but a mis...heartache_

_Teeeeell me why_

_Ain't nothin' but a mistake_

_Tell me why_

_IIIIII never want to hear you say_

_I want it that way_

There was a pause and then Winter said, _I really don’t know the next part. Hold on._

Bucky snorted, wondering how this was going to go down.

_La la la la, um I can see thatwe'vefallenapart_

_Oh! From the way that it used to be, yeah_

_Nah nah la lalalala_

_Something something_

_That deep down inside of meeeeeeeeee!_

Bucky had to stop by this point, jogging off the path and clutching at his knees as he bent over laughing. He didn’t care what anyone thought of him, he knew that he must look like a lunatic, but Winter was trying so hard to make him laugh and it was working so well.

_You are myyyyy fire_

_The one desiiiiire_

_You are (you are, you are, you are)_

_Don't want to hear you say_

_Ain't nothin'…_

He started again at the chorus, and Bucky wiped at his eyes, waiting patiently for the song to come to an end. Winter got even more enthusiastic for the last part, belting it out like his life depended on it, reaching notes that only dogs could hear. 

_Are you done?_ Bucky asked as the final notes faded.

 _Um...ooh, I_ **_love_ ** _this next one!_ Winter crowed as _Have You Ever Seen The Rain_ by Credence Clearwater Revival came on. 

_Someone told me long ago_

_There’s a calm before the storm_

_I know! It’s been coming for some time_

Bucky started jogging again, his mood lifted, a smile on his face. He knew that he was getting the stink eye from people who were calling insults behind his back, but he ignored them, tuning everything out but Winter. They ran for close to two hours, pushing themselves to the limit, with Winter performing karaoke the entire way. Bucky finally came to a stop at the entrance to the park, breathing hard, sweat pouring down his face. He made his way over to the van that sold cold drinks, ice cream, and magazines so he could purchase a bottle of water and froze.

His face, as well as Tony’s and Peter’s was splashed across every single magazine cover on the stand. The headlines were just as crass and horrible as the comments that he’d ignored whilst running, and water forgotten and good mood gone, he turned and walked from the park with heavy steps and shoulders slumped.

He’d gone most of his adult life being public enemy number one and it appeared that he was right back to square one.

oOoOo

By the time they’d made it back to the Tower, Bucky had managed to pull himself back from the edge. He’d messaged Tony and Peter as he’d walked, allowing the love they all shared to ease the hurt he was feeling, and then he’d concentrated on the cake he was going to make for Mel’s visit. He was much better at baking than cooking, especially with Winter’s help and they tried a different recipe each time his niece came to visit. 

Technically, Melanie was his great, great niece, a descendant of his sister Tiffany, and she’d managed to track him down some time ago. Bucky enjoyed her company but he knew for a fact that Tony, Peter, _and_ Winter weren’t overly fond of her. He wasn’t entirely sure why, and put it down to a personality clash, so he didn’t see her too often. His lovers had never come out and said that they didn’t want him to spend time with her, but they always made themselves scarce during her visits, and as Bucky already didn't get as much time with them as he wanted, they were always his priority. He made sure to make the times they _did_ catch up count though and baking for her was his way of making the occasion special. Despite Winter’s lack of warmth towards Mel, he was always happy to help Bucky in the kitchen beforehand because he knew how much it meant to him. Bucky not only appreciated the help, but he also enjoyed the time that he and Winter spent together baking. They may share the same body, but when it came to baking, it always felt like it was the _both_ of them doing it, not just one of them with the other watching from the background. 

They headed for the kitchen and Bucky pulled out their favourite cookbook. “I’m thinkin’ the apple crumble cake - what do ya reckon?” he asked.

There was a pause as Winter thought about it and Bucky knew that he’d be running through the list of ingredients and matching them up with what he knew they had on hand. The ex-assassin had an uncanny ability to recall exactly what the pantry held at any one time, down to the last spice jar. _Sounds good. It’s relatively simple to make, but if we serve it with some warm custard and whipped cream, it’ll make it extra special._

Bucky grinned. Winter had a fondness for British foods and had introduced them all to custard, the British custard. Tony hadn’t originally even wanted to try it _(“Pudding should be cold, and why the fuck are you putting it on my pie for, you heathen!”)_ but he’d soon come around to liking it as much as Winter and Bucky did. Peter didn't seem too nonplussed about it, but ate it to make his partners happy. Friday was always sure to place an order with the specialty imported food store so Winter always had a supply of custard powder on hand, the AI as eager to make Winter as happy as the others.

“Sounds like a plan.” He looked at the clock. “We’d best get a move on, we’re running out of time.”

They moved around the kitchen fluidly, switching places whenever needed, the transition absolutely seamless now. At the start, they’d always had a conversation before switching but they had become more in tune with each other’s thoughts and emotions and during the mundane, everyday stuff, they’d switch at will. It was only during special occasions or for the important things that they’d plan it out beforehand, making sure that neither felt left out, or forced into something they didn't want to do. 

Bucky was just checking on the cake in the oven when Winter pushed to the front, rushing over to the stove to stir the custard. “You know it needs to be stirred constantly or it will go lumpy!” he chastised.

 _Oops, sorry. I keep forgetting,_ Bucky apologised.

“It’s okay, I’ll give it a bit of a whisk and it should be okay.”

 _What’s the time?_ Bucky asked as Winter grabbed the whisk from the utensil drawer.

“Ten past three.”

_Hmmm, she’s late. I hope everything’s okay._

“Maybe she got caught up downstairs. Security are being extra careful right now.”

 _Ah, that’s probably it._ The number of guards had been doubled to ensure that no paparazzi managed to sneak inside. 

“Okay, I think that’s it,” Winter said, moving the pot from the heat and retreating back inside.

“Thanks, darling heart.”

_Anytime, moya dusha._

Bucky pulled the cake from the oven and set it aside to cool slightly and then wiped down the bench top and stacked the dishes he’d used in the dishwasher. By the time he was done, it was twenty five minutes past three and Melanie still hadn't arrived. He picked up his phone and sent her a quick text.

_Is everything okay? It’s not like you to be late - Bucky_

It took several minutes before a reply came through.

_Are you fukcing serious right now? - Melanie_

_What do you mean? - Bucky_

_Why the fuck would I still be coming round today? You’re fucking SICK, dating that teenage boy! I never want to see you again. Delete my number. I hope you rot in hell - Melanie._

Bucky stared at the text for several minutes, willing it to change but it never did. His jaw ached and his eyes stung as he held back his tears as the reality of the situation began to sink in. His niece, his only surviving relative, had disowned him because of who he happened to love. He’d been so excited when she had tracked him down, a missing part of him slotting into place after realising that he wasn’t completely without family. Yes, Tony and Peter were his family, they filled the hollow that had been within him for so long, but there was something about a tangible connection through blood that had made him feel complete. Now that was gone.

He didn’t bother replying, and did as she asked, deleting her number from his contacts list. He then slid down the kitchen cupboard until he was sitting on the floor, suddenly feeling numb.

 _I’m so sorry, moya dusha,_ Winter said quietly.

Bucky shrugged, unable to form words to explain what he was feeling but knowing he didn't need to - Winter would know.

He stayed there for hours, too shocked to get up, and it had gotten dark when Tony and Peter came in and found him there.

Tony looked from Bucky to the cold cake on the counter, the congealed custard in the pot, then back to his lover. “What happened?” he asked.

“Melanie’s not coming,” Bucky said, tonelessly.

“Did something come up?” Tony asked carefully.

Bucky shook his head. “She’s never coming again. She washed her hands of me.”

He didn't have to explain why - Tony and Peter grasped the reason in an instant. They moved over to flank Bucky, joining him on the kitchen floor, and the warmth of them on either side seemed to rouse him a little. “This sucks,” he said morosely.

“Yeah, yeah it does.” Peter agreed.

Neither of them said anything against Melanie, for which Bucky was grateful. They could have used it as an excuse to bitch about her, to justify why they’d never liked her, but they didn’t because they knew how much she’d meant to Bucky.

“How about we all shower together, get into some pyjamas, and then spend the night cuddling,” Tony suggested.

Bucky thought his heart would burst from how much he needed that right now. “Fuck yes,” he agreed.

Peter jumped to his feet and held out a hand to both of them, easily pulled both of his partners up. “I vote that we add in some sexy times too. That’ll help make you feel better.”

Bucky smiled and leaned in to give Peter a kiss, and then gave one to Tony as well. “You both have the best ideas,” he said, and then followed as Peter led the way, the doomed afternoon tea laying forgotten on the counter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> moya dusha - my soul


	5. Chapter 5

Tony nodded at the employees in the lobby of Stark Tower, and graced Ralph, the security guard who opened the door for him, with a smile. He let out an explosive breath once he was outside, the smoggy air not as stifling as the climate in the Tower. He understood that Pepper was still mad as hell, but she was taking it too far. He still _owned_ the company, so technically she worked for him, and the way she was acting wasn’t at all professional. It was a sign of just how mad she was since she was normally the epitome of professionalism, but that still hadn’t given her the right to speak to him so condescendingly in front of the Board of Directors. He’d had to walk away, to get some space, before he did or said something that he couldn’t take back.   
He chose a direction at random, needing to get away, to get some space, and he walked briskly down the sidewalk, enjoying how he instantly became just one more face in the crowd, anonymous. Sure, there would still be people who recognised him, but mostly people were too busy with their own lives to take any notice of another besuited man in Manhattan. He wished so badly that Peter or Bucky or Winter were with him, so much that his chest ached. Peter was at school, and Bucky and Winter were helping Rhodey and so Tony had no one to vent to about his CEO. He was pretty sure that Pepper was acting so cold half out of jealousy. Yes, they’d been separated for years now, and it had ended pretty amicably, but that didn't mean that he didn't know her well. He _knew_ that she looked at his relationship with the others and saw what they had never had - a truly loving, meaningful partnership that would last for the rest of their lives. 

Tony wasn’t normally a sappy person but there was no doubt in his mind that he would be with Peter, Bucky, and Winter until the day he died. Given that the others had super powers, if none of them were killed in battle, then the likelihood of Tony being the one to pass away first was high. The others would have each other but he knew that it would also break their hearts, and so he’d recently started working on a project to see if maybe he could do something about that. It was early days yet, and it involved the highly volatile Extremis serum that Aldrich Killian had been dabbling with, but he had high hopes that within a few years he’d have something developed that would prolong his life. It was dangerous ground, he knew, bordering on villainous (these things always seemed to call to the very worst of humanity) but Tony knew that he wasn’t doing it for money, or power, or eternal life. He was doing it for love. 

While he was lost in his thoughts, Tony’s feet had taken him to the park where he, Peter, and Bucky had made a snow army the Christmas that they had gotten together. He smiled to himself as he remembered that day, but the smile soon fell away by a shout from behind him.

“Well, well well, if it’s not the child molester himself, Mister Tony Stark.”

Tony whirled around and saw four men approaching him, and he looked around to see if there was anyone else about, but he was alone with them.

“Scum of the Earth, if you ask me,” one of the men said, spitting at Tony’s feet.

“We don’t like paedophiles,” a third added, narrowing his piggish eyes at Tony.

Knowing it was pointless but unable to remain silent, Tony said, “I think you’ll find that I am none of those things. My partner, Peter, is legally able to have a relationship with whomever he pleases.”

“He’s a fucking kid!” the first one snapped.

“It’s really none of your damn business,” Tony snapped right back. He slowly backed away from the men, the air around them seeming to crackle with the potential for violence. He’d left the Tower on a whim, with no destination in mind, and he’d not come prepared for a fight. He didn't even have his watch gauntlet on him, only his phone. “Fri,” he whispered, knowing she’d hear him, “send help to my location, asap.”

“Creeps like you have no right to exist,” the pig-eyed man said, and cracked his knuckles. “How ‘bout we give him what he deserves, boys?”

The others all muttered their agreement, and then they were suddenly rushing him. 

It wasn’t like in the movies, where they came one and a time and gave him a fighting chance. They all attacked at once, and he fended off the first few blows, but then he was jabbed sharply in the kidney and he cried out, spinning instinctively to block the attack. That of course left him open to the other men, and suddenly he was being pummelled from all sides. He hit out, trying to land blows where he could but he was outnumbered and was being overwhelmed. He tried to stay on his feet as long as he could, knowing that it would be over quickly if they got him on the ground. He managed to twist away from a brutal punch aimed at his jaw that would likely have knocked him out cold if it had connected and he shuffled backwards until he had a tree at his back. He managed to get in a few more hits of his own while he didn't have to worry about an attack from behind, but he was aching and tired, and almost certain that he had a cracked rib or two.

Of the men lunged for him, tackling him around the waist and he was jerked sideways, hitting the ground hard. He attempted to scramble to his feet but a booted foot kicked his hard in the ribs, and he cried out, collapsing in pain. Maybe make that fully broken ribs. More kicks came, and it was all Tony could do to get his hands up and protect his head, but he knew that that would just delay the inevitable. If they continued their assault on his ribs, there was a good chance they’d puncture a lung and he was pretty sure that they didn't care if they killed him.

Then there was a shout from one side and in a blur of movement, his attackers were yanked away from him. He managed to ease into a sitting position and he saw that Peter had come for him, sans uniform. It wasn’t Spider-Man coming to Iron Man’s aid, it was Peter coming for Tony, and he was _pissed._ He didn’t hold back like he normally did when dealing with regular humans, but was using close to his full force. By this time, three of the men were sprawled, unconscious on the ground, and the fourth was on his ass, trying to shuffle away from him. 

“How _dare_ you?” Peter thundered as he stalked forwards. “Friday played me the things you said to Tony! How dare you touch a hair on his head! I’m going to rip your limbs from your body! I’ll pull your intestines from your gut and shove them down your throat! I will draw out your death until your curse the day you ever decided to speak such horrid things against the man that I love!”

“K...kid, we were j...j...just trying to p...protect you,” the man stuttered.

“I am no kid and I do _not_ need your protection,” Peter said in a quiet, deadly voice. It sent shivers up Tony’s spine and he was truly worried that Peter was on the verge of doing something that he couldn’t take back.

“Pete,” Tony called, and staggered to his feet, clutching at his ribs as he cried out in pain. “Pete, baby, please, don’t do this. They’re not worth it.” Peter’s eyes snapped onto Tony’s and he could see the adrenaline pumping through his blood, the battle rage dancing in his eyes. “Please, Petey, for me. Forget them, please, just help me home.” He choked out a half laugh, half sob. “I just want to go home, baby.”

That got through to him, and with a flick of his wrist, the last guy was webbed up and Peter was at Tony’s side. He scooped him into his arms, trying to be gentle, but it hurt all the same. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” Tony assured him through gritted teeth. “Thanks for coming for me.”

“Sorry I got here too late.”

“I rather think you got here just in time.”

Peter smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to Tony’s lips. “Come on, let’s get back to the Tower. I asked Friday to recall Bucky and Winter so they should be there soon.”

Tony leaned his head against Peter’s shoulder and his eyes drooped closed as he felt them lift into the air, swinging from building to building, ignoring the pain as best he could and concentrating on the warm feeling of Peter’s body. 

Bucky and Winter arrived back at the Tower just as one of the medics was finishing wrapping his ribs. “You be careful, now, Mr Stark,” he was instructing Tony. “There’s little you can do for broken ribs but rest and allow your body to heal.”

He nodded and watched as their partner stalked towards them. He wasn’t too sure of who was in control, as both Bucky and Winter could fall into the Winter Soldier death mode when required. “Who did this, dorogaj?” Winter demanded, his eyes flashing.

“Just some guys while I was out for a walk,” Tony said.

“It’s okay, I took care of them,” Peter assured him.

“Are they still breathing?” Winter asked.

“Yes, but only because Tony wanted them to.”

His eyes fixed on Tony and he felt a shiver go up his spine. “I will kill them,” he stated flatly.

“No, you won’t. No one is killing anyone,” Tony said. "No one is ripping intestines out, either," he added, looking to Peter who had the grace to look embarrassed about his almost villianous rant.

“You cannot stop me,” Winter snapped, and turned to stalk out of the room, but then his body jerked and he turned around, as if forced. “Stop. That,” he growled. Then a full body shiver went through him and his posture changed.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Bucky said, standing up straighter, and Tony wasn’t sure if he was talking to him to apologise for the murder threat, or to Winter for forcing him into the backseat.

“I meant it,” Tony reiterated. “No killing. They already think of us as the villains, let’s not give them more of a reason to think so.”

“Fine,” Bucky agreed, “but we can’t allow this to stand.”

“I agree,” Peter said. “We’re being treated like shit and all we’ve done is love each other.”

“So, the question is then, what do we do about it?” Bucky asked.

Tony chewed on his lip for a moment and then said, “I think I have an idea, but you might not like it.”

Cameras flashed as they took the stage for yet another press conference. A hush fell over the crowd as they caught sight of Tony hobbling up to the microphone, his face black and blue, assisted by his lovers. They went directly to the podium, not bothering with an opening statement from Pepper or anyone else. 

“Right, we’ve called you here today to make an announcement,” Tony told the gathered journalists. “In the two weeks since you’ve learned of our relationship, we have been harrassed, attacked, and abused. This is unacceptable.” He looked around the room with a cold gaze. “We have laid our lives on the line for you all, and this -'' He gestured to his face. “ - is what we get in return. Well, the gig’s up, people. As of this moment on, you can take care of yourselves. Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Winter Soldier hereby resign from the Avengers Initiative.” The crowd broke out into an uproar but Tony ignored them. “Good luck the next time aliens invade.” And with that, he took Peter’s hand in one hand and Bucky and Winter’s in the other, and they walked off the stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dorogaj - darling


	6. Chapter 6

Peter had been getting used to the stares and whispers as he walked through the halls at school, but this was the worst it had been since the very first day after the world had learned of their relationship. Students and teachers stopped and watched him, some with looks of disappointment on their faces, others still with looks of disgust. He tried to ignore them, but it was hard when someone yelled at his back, “I can’t believe you’re so selfish, Parker! The world  _ needs  _ superheroes, but you don’t deserve to be one!”

He stilled, trying to keep his cool, but once again Flash came to his rescue. His friend pushed through the throng of students and came to stand next to Peter, glaring at them all. “You’re all so fucking fickle!” he spat at them. “Yesterday you didn't care at all that Peter is Spider-Man, you only cared about who he’s dating! But now that he’s not going to protect you from every bad guy out there, you suddenly give a crap?” He shook his head. “None of you,  _ none  _ of you deserve Spider-Man.” He took hold of Peter’s elbow and tugged him down the hall. “Come on, Peter, let’s go. These people sicken me.”

Peter followed Flash through the hallway and then outside into the fresh air. He was breathing heavily, his chest tight and his eyes stinging. 

“Are you okay?” Flash asked quietly, guiding him to a quiet nook off to one side of the gardens.

Peter shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.” He swiped at his eyes, annoyed that he’d been moved to tears by his fellow classmates. “It just sucks, you know? I  _ loved _ being Spider-Man, loved being able to help people. I never thought I’d have to give it up.”

Flash was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Was it your choice?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. It was Tony’s idea but the rest of us agreed.” He bit his lip. “Tony got jumped while out and about yesterday. They beat him up pretty badly. It’s why I left in a hurry, cos Friday called me.”

“Holy shit,” Flash cried. “Is he okay?”

Peter frowned and then nodded.

“Are the guys who attacked him okay?”

Peter snorted, a mirthless sound. “Three of them are in hospital. I may have lost control a little bit.”

Flash shook his head. “They got what they deserved, Peter. Don’t spend a minute of your time regretting kicking their asses.”

Peter managed a small smile as he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t think I can do this today,” he admitted in a small voice.

“Okay,” Flash agreed. “Let’s go.”

“What?”

“I get it, Peter, I wouldn’t want to be here either. So let’s play hooky. Come on.” He started leading Peter towards the student parking lot. 

“Are you sure? I can just call someone to come get me, or walk. You don’t have to skip school and risk getting in trouble too.”

“Yeah, right. They’ve pissed me off, big time. If I stay, I’m more likely to get in trouble for punching someone.”

Peter laughed and slid into the passenger seat of Flash’s car. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Of course I am, Peter.” He started the car. “So, where to?”

“How ‘bout we head to the Tower? Tony’s got an awesome selection of movies there and his theatre room is awesome.”

“Sounds good. You can get us into the garage?”

“Yep, no worries.” They drove in silence for a block or two, then Peter broke it by saying, “You’ve started calling me Peter.”

Flash shrugged. “It’s your name, isn't it?”

“So’s Parker.”

“Does it bother you?”

“No, not at all. I was just wondering why, is all.”

Flash kept his eyes on the road but Peter could see that his ears had gone slightly red. “We’re friends, yeah?” he asked.

“Of course. If you’d asked me a year ago if I thought we’d ever be friends, I would have said no but we’re definitely friends now,” Peter agreed.

“Yeah, well, then I reckon we’re on a first name basis by now.”

Peter smirked. “Does this mean that you want me to call you Eugene?”

Flash’s nose scrunched up. “Ew, no! You better not!”

Peter laughed and Flash joined in, and they were still laughing when they pulled into the underground parking garage of the Tower, the door opened as Peter aimed his clicker at it. Flash tried to act cool as they got into the private elevator and Friday greeted them, but Peter could tell that he was nervous. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Um, just wondering if I’ll be welcome here?” he said, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “I mean, I  _ have  _ had a late night visit from Iron Man in the past threatening to rip my balls off.”

Peter chuckled. “Don’t worry - Tony’s no longer interested in your balls.” The door opened and they stepped out.

“Who’s balls am I or am I not interested in?” Tony asked, stepping into the foyer, clearly alerted by Friday of their arrival.

Peter grinned. “Flash’s.”

“Oh, definitely  _ not _ interested, sorry,” Tony said to Flash, then quirked a brow at Peter. He immediately grimaced, the gesture pulling at his bruised and swollen face. “Ow, that really hurts. So, um, what are you crazy kids doing here during a school day?”

Peter sighed. “I got sick of people being nasty and Flash offered to skip with me.”

Tony nodded, as if this was perfectly acceptable. “Buckaroo and I were going to watch a movie since I’m supposed to be resting and he won’t let me down into the workshop. You two wanna join us?”

Peter nodded and finally closed the space to slip his arms around Tony’s waist, being mindful of his broken ribs, and pulled him into a soft kiss. “Sounds great. We’ll make the popcorn.”

They spent a pleasant day watching movies, and Peter was grateful to Flash for urging him to skip school for the day. Once the school day would have finished, Flash bade them farewell and it was just the four of them left, until Friday announced that Rhodey, Hope, Scott, and Vision were coming up to see them.

“Something wrong?” Tony asked Rhodey as they stepped out of the elevator. His tone was light but Peter could read the tension beneath the surface. Besides Strange, everyone who made up the current Avengers team was standing in the foyer and Peter realised that he’d been waiting for a visit from the team. Of course they’d spoken to them before the press conference, but they’d not had time to have a proper meeting.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Rhodey assured Tony, but there was something about his expression that made Peter think that he was hiding something.

Obviously, Tony thought the same. “Why do I not believe you?” He sighed. “I guess you’d all better come in. I get the feeling that we’re going to want to be sitting for whatever you have to tell us.”

They moved back into the living room and Tony, Bucky, Winter, and Peter all took a seat on the sofa together, keeping a wary watch.

Hope shook her head. “Stop looking at us like we’re at a funeral. It’s nothing bad.”

Scott grimaced. “It’s not good though, right? I mean, he could  _ eat _ us.”

Rhodey shot him a glare. “He won’t unless you keep bringing it up.”

“Hey, I don’t  _ want _ to be eaten!” Scott squeaked.

Bucky frowned. “Who is going to be eating Scott?”

“I had a bit of a fortuitous meeting earlier today, ran into some friends of yours. Seems like they’ve just moved back to New York and are the sort of people we could use on the team.” He grinned and then said, “Friday, mind telling them they can come up?”

“Of course, Colonel,” Friday said. 

Everyone’s eyes swivelled around to look through the doorway to where the elevator doors were just visible but the display above them showed no indication that the elevator was moving. Peter turned to ask Rhodey who they were expecting when there was a loud crashing noise as the window shattered and a large figure bounded inside.

**“Greetings, fellow teammates!”** Venom thundered, not seeming the least big concerned about the shards of glass still falling from his shoulders.

“Venom!” Peter cried, and he leapt from his seat to hug him. “What are you guys doing here?”

Venom’s skin rippled and changed beneath Peter’s arms and he soon found himself hugging Eddie, who was shaking. “I  _ still _ am not used to that,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the window. “Why couldn’t we just take the elevator like  _ sane _ people?”

A thin tendril started to grow from Eddie’s shoulder and soon morphed into a small, compact head with large white eyes.  **“Because it was too slow and we were excited to see our friends,”** Venom explained.

Eddie shook his head. “Sorry about the mess,” he said to Tony.

"Eh, don't sweat it," Tony told them.

“It’s so good to see you guys,” Bucky said, standing and clasping Eddie’s hand in his.

“You too!”

**“We can sense that you and your other are fully synchronised now.”**

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, it took a while to get used to but Winter and I got everything sorted.”

**“We are very happy for you.”**

“Thanks, Venom.”

Tony looked between Eddie and his symbiote and Rhodey. “You’ve replaced us already? We only quit yesterday!” His voice was only slightly teasing.

Rhodey shrugged. “Sorry, man, but evil doesn’t rest. You know I support your decision, and only want the best for you guys, but we’re badly short now and Eddie and Venom agreed to join.”

**“We are going to catch bad guys and eat their heads!”** Venom announced happily.

Rhodey blanched a little at this but recovered quickly. “I’m sure we’ll have them up to speed soon enough on the protocols. I did have a favour to ask though.”

“Oh?” Tony said, cocking his head.

“Well, they’ve only just gotten into town and are staying in a hotel, I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind putting them up for a little while, until they’ve gotten sorted?”

“Are you kidding?” Tony asked, deadpan.

Rhodey shifted uncomfortably. “I know it’s a lot to ask…”

Tony stared at him for a long moment and then broke out into the biggest grin he could manage while his face was swollen and bruised. “Honestly, you moron, of  _ course _ they can stay here. I’ve got whole floors decked out for the Avengers!” He turned to Eddie and Venom. “You two are welcome to stay as long as you want. There’s no need to look for a place of your own unless you want to.”

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked. “I mean, if you’re stepping back now, I didn't think you’d want the team around all the time.”

Tony gave a sad smile. “Yes, we’ve resigned but we’re not going to stop being who we are. If you guys really need us, we’ll be there. Besides, just because we’re not  _ officially _ on the team, doesn’t mean I can’t make you guys weapons and tech, and the others are happy to keep training with everyone. If something really big happened, we wouldn’t just sit idly by and not help.”

“Awesome, well thanks. We’d love to accept your offer.”

Venom grinned, teeth flashing under the soft lighting of the living room.  **“And now we’re** **_roommates_ ** **with Bucky and Winter and Tony and sometimes Peter as well! This is the best day** **_ever!”_ **

Eddie chuckled. “Yeah, it’s pretty damn good."

**“We should celebrate!”**

“Yes, we should,” Eddie agreed. “What do you suggest?”

**“Tator tots and chocolate!”**

“Gee, why am I not surprised?” Eddie rolled his eyes but rubbed the back of Venom’s head affectionately. “Okay, well we’ll head back to the hotel, pack our things and check out. I’ll stop by a grocery store on the way back for some supplies - does anyone want anything else for this party?”

“I can order some pizzas,” Tony offered.

“Can you get some almond chocolate?” Bucky asked. He paused, his eyes going distant and then added, “and Winter would like some apple pie if they have any. He ain’t a fan of chocolate.”

Peter didn’t think it was possible but Venom’s eyes went even bigger.  **“You don’t like chocolate?”**

A beat later and Bucky’s stance and posture changed, a clear indication that Winter had ‘taken the wheel’. “Sorry, Venom, but it’s not really my thing.”

If the alien symbiote had lips, Peter was sure that he’d be chewing on his bottom one as he considered this.  **“We believe we can forgive you, if only because it will mean more chocolate for us.”**

Winter smiled. “Thanks, that’s very magnanimous of you.”

**“We don’t know what that word means but we are a very forgiving person.”**

Eddie cringed and shook his head. “That’s what it  _ means,  _ love.”

**“Oh.”** Venom looked around the room.  **“So...chocolate?”**

Eddie laughed. “Yeah, yeah, we’re going, we’re going.” He looked to Rhodey. “You’ve got my number, text if you want anything else.”

There was a small, silent argument between host and symbiote before they turned and walked to the elevator. Venom was pouting as the doors closed and Peter was sure that he heard Venom call Eddie a pussy.

Silence fell over the room before Scott broke it. “So,  _ that’s _ not something you see everyday.”

“They’re good people,” Winter told him.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, they are.”

“They’ll be a good fit for the team,” Tony agreed. “They’ll have your backs.”

“If they don’t eat us first,” Scott said.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “He’s  _ not _ going to eat you.”

“Well I for one am grateful that they have joined the team,” Vision told them. “Even with Mr Brock and Venom we are still undermanned, and I fear that the disreputable and malcontent may try to take advantage of that.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Friday announced, “but there’s something you need to see, boss.” The television flickered to life and they turned to see an empty podium, with the buzz of journalists knowing they were in for a front page announcement filing the air.

“Fri, what’s going on?” Tony asked.

Before she could reply, the sound of the reporters rose to a crescendo as Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romonov, Clint Barton, and Wanda Maximoff walked onto the stage.


	7. Chapter 7

“What the fuck is _he_ doing back in the States?” Bucky growled, watching his ex best friend take the podium.

“This can’t be good,” Peter muttered.

 _Tony,_ Winter whispered and Bucky turned to see that Tony had gone pale beneath the purple and blue bruises covering his face. 

“Shit,” Bucky swore and quickly crossed to Tony, noticing that Peter had done the same. The last time they had seen Rogers, he had punched Tony so hard that he’d been knocked out cold and that, coupled with the fight that they’d had in Siberia, made Steve Rogers Tony’s least favourite person. There were still times that Tony had nightmares about Siberia, which always left Bucky crippled with guilt. He’d been there, had done his best to hurt Tony, and although his partner had forgiven him, Bucky knew that Tony had not quite gotten over Steve’s betrayal. 

Bucky slipped an arm around Tony’s waist and Peter did the same so they bracketed him from both sides, a silent support for whatever was to come.

 _“Good morning,”_ Rogers said, addressing the crowd of reporters and the cameras. _“Yesterday, Earth lost her best defender with the retirement of Iron Man, and was left even more vulnerable with Bucky Barnes and Spider-Man also leaving the Avengers. These are uncertain times, and despite having disappointed the American people in the past with my refusal to sign the Sokovia Accords, my colleagues and I still feel passionately about this great country.”_ He looked straight into the camera and Bucky was certain that Rogers was speaking directly to him. _“I may have the strength of a super soldier; I may be enhanced; yet at the end of the day, I am still human and humans are capable of mistakes. Lord knows, I’ve made my own. I’ve lost the trust and respect of not only those closest to me, my family and my teammates but I know that I have lost the trust and respect of the people. I am here today -_ **_we_ ** _are here today, to humbly offer our services to The Avengers; to sign The Accords. Forgiveness is not easily asked for, or given, and we don’t expect your forgiveness today. All we ask is the opportunity to fight alongside those that protect you so we can earn back your trust, so we can earn your forgiveness. I will leave my number with the Minister for Defense so that Colonel James Rhodes can contact us if he chooses to take us up on our offer. Thank you for your time.”_

The group left the stage to a litany of questions yelled at them. It appeared that they weren’t going to answer any of them, until Rogers was stopped dead by a question asking, _“Captain America, how do you feel about your childhood friend being in a relationship with a man over eighty years his junior? Did you always know that James Barnes was a paedophile?”_

Romanov winced and moved closer to Rogers, taking his arm and speaking quietly to him but he shook her off and turned to glare at the reporter. _“Whatever our differences now, Bucky Barnes has always been an honourable man and I know that that has not changed. Yes, I was shocked when I heard that Peter Parker was now a part of the relationship, but I wish them nothing but the best.”_

_“So you were already aware that Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes were in a relationship?”_

_“I’m sorry, no further questions,”_ Rogers said and he and the others left the room.

Bucky turned to one of Friday’s sensors and asked her to cut the feed. He was reeling, not only because he had hoped to never lay eyes on Steve Rogers again, but because he could feel how tense Tony was next to him. Tony was the bravest man that Bucky knew and so he would do his best to hide his trepidation about this turn of events, but both Bucky and Peter were well aware of how much this would set off his anxieties.

Rhodes was staring at the dark screen, deep in thought. “No,” Peter snapped. “No fucking way.”

Rhodes looked over at him, sympathy in his eyes but his voice was steady when he said, “As much as I detest the man for everything he’s put us through, I have to at least consider his proposal.”

“Why?” Peter demanded. “So he can have another chance to finish off what he’s tried twice now? We all know that he could have killed Tony and you’re just going to let him waltz back in like nothing happened?”

Rhodes glared at Peter. “I know full well what the man has done, dammit. Don’t you dare suggest that I am not aware of the impact this will have on Tony, but I have to consider this not as Tony’s best friend but as the leader of The Avengers. Even with Eddie and Venom on board, we are down on man power, and that’s not even taking into consideration the amount of PR we’re going to have to do to convince the public that Venom is a friend, not foe. What happens if we’re attacked tomorrow? Can we really allow our own prejudices against Rogers and the rest to let harm fall upon innocent people?”

“We’ve already said that if the worst happens that we’ll help out,” Bucky pointed out.

“And what sort of shit storm is that going to bring down on us from the UN?” Rhodes asked. “The way that you four have been treated by the public is despicable but at the end of the day you all resigned from the Avengers. This isn’t the high school chess club - you can’t just decide from day to day if you’re going to turn up or not. I have to work within the guidelines set down by the Sokovia Accords. If it’s a local disturbance, sure, we’ll be okay if you want to help out but if it’s something global then I’m sorry, but you’ll be on the sidelines.”

“We get that but surely there’s other people you can consider,” Peter protested. “Is he really the sort of guy you want to have your back?”

“We gave Scott a second chance and you’re fine with him having your back,” Rhodes shot back.

“That’s because he’s a good guy!” Peter half shouted.

Scott went pink at the praise but wisely remained silent.

“We also gave Bucky and Winter a second chance,” Tony said quietly, his head still bowed.

“That’s completely different!” Peter exclaimed.

Tony shook his head and squeezed Bucky’s hand. “Is it though?”

Bucky wanted to protest, to agree with Peter, but deep down he knew that he couldn’t. Tony hadn't had any reason to trust him but he had worked tirelessly to get him a pardon and then had offered him not only a place here with The Avengers but also a home at the Tower. Bucky and Winter had killed his parents, fought against him in Siberia, had been the reason that Rogers had abandoned The Avengers in the first place, and yet none of that had stopped Tony from offering up a piece of himself. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise - no matter how much certain individuals touted Tony as being selfish and arrogant, he was the first person to offer forgiveness, the first person to put others before himself, to do whatever it takes to protect others. He hadn’t necessarily agreed with the Accords, but he’d understood that they’d needed oversight, that they needed to be held accountable for their actions. He’d sacrificed friendships and family to do the right thing, and here he was again, ready to set aside his personal feelings and do what was needed for the good of others. Tony Stark wasn’t just a good man, he was one of the best men that Bucky had ever known 

Tony turned to take stock of Bucky’s emotions and he could clearly read what was going on in his head. “I think Rhodey should take them up on the offer,” he said. “I think he would be stupid _not_ to.”

“Tony -” Peter began but was cut off when Tony raised a hand to stall him.

“I don’t like it, baby, but it’s the _right_ thing to do. Maybe we were too hasty in making our decision, maybe we let our hearts dictate what we should have let our brains dictate, but at the end of the day, we made our bed and now we have to lie in it.”

Peter frowned but didn’t say anything.

“Do you regret quitting?” Tony asked him. 

Peter shook his head. “No. Sure, I’ll miss being on the Avenger’s but I can still help out my neighbourhood from time to time. The Accords hold no sway over Queens.”

Tony smiled then turned to Bucky. “What about you guys? Do either you or Winter regret our decision?”

Bucky squeezed Tony’s hand. “Not at all, sweetheart. It was the right thing to do for us. You never know - maybe we’ll have some time to actually spend together now. One day we might change our minds, and I’m sure The Avengers will welcome us back -” 

Rhodes nodded. “Of course.”

“ - but for now, I think we needed to step away, step out of the spotlight. We’ve given so much, it’s time to look after us now. We both feel this way.”

“Okay, great, that’s great.” He leaned in and kissed Bucky, then turned to give Peter a kiss as well. “That’s settled then. Rhodey Bear won’t have any of us throwing temper tantrums if Rogers and his gang of merry men rejoin.”

Rhodes stepped forwards and clasped Tony’s hand, pulling him up and off the couch and into a hug. “Thanks, man. I’m sorry that I had to put you in this position.”

“Hey, as you said, we quit - we no longer have a say over who gets to join the team.”

“You know I wouldn’t consider it if I had other options.”

“I know.”

The elevators opened and Eddie stepped out, coming to a halt as he felt the tension still in the air. Venom formed a small head and watched them all with his large eyes. “Did we miss something?” Eddie asked.

Rhodes let out a big breath and ran a hand over his short, cropped hair. “Yeah, you could say that. Let me fill you in.”


	8. Chapter 8

Tony stood at his workbench, manipulating a hologram in front of him as he worked on modifying Extremis to suit his needs and not turn him into something resembling molten lava. He’d made more progress than he thought he would but given that in the two weeks since he, Bucky, Winter, and Peter had resigned from the Avengers he’d had little to do but work on personal projects, he couldn’t really be surprised. He’d worked on a couple of projects for Stark Industries, made a few modifications to the nano tech project he’d been tinkering with for a while, and spent some _very_ quality time watching his partners make love, but he’d still had ample time to work on Extremis. If things continued the way they were, he might even have a viable prototype by the end of the year.

Once upon a time, he would have rushed the project, eager for results, but not anymore. Not for something like this. This was too important. This was his _future_ with the men he loved more than anything else. He had to get it right the first time and if that meant more time working on the theory, more simulations, more lab tests, then so be it. Six months now could mean another twenty, or fifty years with his lovers. No one really knew how much longer a super soldier or someone enhanced with spider powers would live, but Tony would take anything extra that he could get with them.

The lab door swished open and Bucky and Peter walked in. “Speak of the devils,” he said, smiling at them. “I was just thinking of you two.”

“Yeah?” Bucky asked, his lips tugging up on one side into a smirk. “About anything in particular? Or just ‘bout how awesome we are?”

Tony laughed. “Pretty much. Really just how much I love you both.”

“Awww.” Bucky stepped up to him and slipped his hands onto his hips, tugging him gently close, being careful of his still healing ribs. “Love you too, sweetheart.” He brushed his lips softly against Tony’s and Tony all but melted into the kiss. His injuries had been too painful for him to participate when Bucky and Peter had been intimate the past fortnight, and although his ribs were still giving him some grief, his desire for his partners had started to override that. 

“How are you feeling?” Peter asked, slipping a hand under Tony’s shirt at the back and softly stroking his skin.

“I’m fine,” he assured him. “Horny, but fine.”

Peter bit his lip, looking unsure. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to have sex yet.”

Tony pouted. “But I _want_ to,” he half whined.

Bucky chuckled. “He’s had to watch from the sidelines the past two weeks, doll, I don’t blame him for bein’ antsy.”

“See, Bucky gets it,” Tony said. 

“But I don’t want to hurt you,” Peter said, looking genuinely upset at the prospect.

“I’ll be careful,” Tony promised.

“How ‘bout,” Bucky began, and sank to his knees with a wink, “we do all the work and just let Tony enjoy himself?” He was already starting to undo the button on Tony’s jeans, knowing full well that there would be no objections.

Peter brightened at this. “Why didn't I think of that?” He quickly began to unbutton Tony’s shirt, and slipped it gently off his shoulders, before trailing his fingertips down over the faded yellow bruises still covering Tony’s chest and sides. He then leaned in to kiss Tony, whose eyes fluttered closed at the press of Peter’s lips. He had grown hard as Bucky worked him from his boxers, and a shudder went through his body at the first swipe of a wet, hot tongue on his cock. 

He wanted to swear, to babble about how fucking good it felt as Bucky slid his lips over the head of his cock and swallowed him down, but Peter’s mouth was keeping his busy and so all he could do was moan, and reach down to fist Bucky’s hair in one hand while the other wrapped around Peter’s neck and pulled him in even closer.

After he was breathless from the kiss, Peter pulled back and then dropped to his knees, looking up at Tony from beneath his long lashes. Bucky pulled off Tony’s cock and shuffled over on his knees to make room for Peter, and in an utterly sinful move, which had Tony almost coming right there on the spot, both Peter and Bucky kept eye contact with him as they moved in and each licked up one side each of Tony’s cock. “Holy fucking shit,” he cried, forcing his eyes to remain open, to watch as they lapped and kissed his length, then took turns to suck on the head, and tongue around his crown.

“Feeling good there, darlin’?” Bucky asked after Peter took him all the way down his throat and Tony stopped breathing for a few moments. 

He nodded. “Gods, yes. Fuck, I want to taste one of you, need someone’s cock in my mouth. Please.”

“‘m not sure if you should get down here with us, Tony. We might need to wait till we got a bed for that.”

Peter pulled off his cock and shook his head. “Nope, we don’t have to wait, I’m on it.”

While Peter jumped to his feet and began stripping, Bucky wrapped his flesh hand around Tony’s length, fisting it slowly to keep him hard and on edge until they figured out what their young lover was up to. Peter was hard, his cock curving up over his stomach and leaving a glistening damp patch on his pale skin. He strode across the workshop, opened a drawer and then snapped a web slinger on his wrist. He hurried back, shot a web at the ceiling, and then pulled himself up and then flipped himself upside down in front of Tony. He slowly lowered himself, pausing to give Tony an upside down kiss, before he dropped even further, positioning his pelvis right in front of Tony’s face.

Grinning, Tony circled Peter’s cock with his thumb and forefinger, sliding it slowly down his length as he licked away the bead of pre-come at the tip. “You’re definitely a genius,” he said, then did what he’d been aching to do and replaced his fingers with his lips.

Bucky went back to work on Tony’s cock, his clever tongue making Tony’s thighs tremble as he tried to concentrate on making it good for Peter. The angle was slightly awkward but he tilted his head back to accommodate, feeling the silken skin slip deeper into his mouth. The weight of Peter’s cock on the back of his tongue was making Tony’s mouth water and he swiped a finger across his chin as drool slid down it. Using his slick digit, he reached back and began to circle Peter’s tight hole, not pressing in just yet, just teasing with a firm pressure around the rim.

Bucky reached up with his metal hand, brushing around Tony’s mouth with a finger, before slipping it inside next to Peter’s cock. Tony sucked both, his tongue tracing over the minute seams of the vibranium finger, before pressing against the sensitive bundle of nerves of Peter’s frenulum. Bucky’s finger then disappeared and a moment later, Tony felt the blunt tip of a warm metal finger circle his own hole. Another full body shiver went through him and he instinctively shuffled his legs wider, giving Bucky room. The finger slipped inside of him and as he groaned, he grabbed the back of Peter’s thighs and pulled him close, taking him down to the root, his nose buried against the soft curls of public hair.

“Shit, Tony, so good,” Peter cried, thrusting his hips and causing Tony to rock backwards, forcing Bucky’s finger even deeper. 

He pulled his mouth away from Peter’s length, and knowing that Bucky hated getting a mouthful of semen, warned, “Shit, Bucky, I’m close, babe.”

Bucky met his gaze and winked and then a moment later it was Winter on his knees; Winter who loved swallowing Tony’s load. He sucked him hard, rotating his metal finger and Tony cried out, pulsing deep inside his mouth. Winter’s throat worked as he swallowed most of it all down, then he pulled off, turned to Peter and shared a filthy kiss with him. From the way Peter’s throat was bobbing, he was finding every last trace of Tony’s release inside Winter’s mouth and greedily swallowing it. Between the two of them, they didn't miss a single drop. 

“Holy fuck, you three will be the death of me,” Tony groaned, running a gentle hand down over Winter’s cheek, then cupping the back of Peter’s neck.

“Surprise,” Winter said, somewhat belatedly, his eyes twinkling with mirth. 

Not wanting Peter to be dangling upside any longer than he had to be, Tony got down to business, licking across his slit, pressing his tongue firmly against it, then taking him in deep. His finger went back to Peter’s ass, pressing inside this time, just a little, before pulling out to press against his perineum. Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s legs, giving him the leverage to thrust inside, and Tony let his mouth go slack, allowing Peter to set the pace.

It didn't take long before he was grunting, and salty goodness was flooding Tony’s mouth. He pulled away, nuzzling briefly at the crease between Peter’s hip and thigh, and then Winter was on his feet, helping Peter down. He swayed slightly as the blood rushed from his head, and they both supported him. “Wow, that was a head rush,” he said with a grin, and Tony laughed and pulled him in close for a kiss.

“Thank you, for taking care of me,” he whispered, before turning to kiss Winter as well.

“Anytime, dorogaj.”

“Now we’d better take care of Winter and Bucky,” Peter said, reaching for Winter.

Winter blushed and shook his head. “Um, no, it’s fine. I kinda liked what we did…”

Both Tony and Peter’s eyes dropped to Winter’s crotch where a dark stain was spreading over the jeans he wore. Tony grinned and surged forward to kiss him. “That’s so hot,” he said.

“I think it’s more embarrassing than anything else,” Winter said, his cheeks and the tips of his ears pink.

“Hell no,” Peter disgreed. “It’s hot.”

“Very hot,” said Tony.

“Totally hot,” Peter reiterated.

Winter looked away shyly but nodded.

“What it _also_ is,” Tony said, “is uncomfortable when it starts drying. How about we head upstairs for a shower and a change of clothes?”

Winter nodded fervently and tried to subtly adjust his jeans, but Tony grabbed his hand, then Peter’s, and led them from the workshop. Yeah, he could totally get used to this retirement thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dorogaj - darling


	9. Chapter 9

Tony was too fucking good for this world. Bucky paced up and down the living room of the Penthouse, trying to work off some of the agitation he’d been feeling for the past few days. He threw the odd glare at his lover, who was sprawled on the couch looking like he didn’t have a care in the world, but Tony didn’t give any indication that he’d noticed Bucky’s little temper tantrum. Probably because he was a fucking saint who was too forgiving.

Peter walked in from the kitchen, his fingers drumming restlessly against his thighs and his eyes darting to the clock on the wall. They had ten minutes before they had to head downstairs. Their eyes met and Bucky could see how unhappy Peter was about this development as well, but no matter how hard they had tried to talk Tony out of it, he’d been adamant.

The Rogues (or simply ‘The Avengers’ as Rhodes kept telling them they had to be referred to from now on, not that Bucky could do that) were officially back on the team, and although Bucky wasn’t overly happy about that, he understood the reasoning behind it. It would have been fine - now that he was retired, he wouldn’t have to work with them, or see them, or have anything to do with them unless he wished to. Or so he’d thought. Until Tony’s bleeding heart had come into play and thrown everything for a loop.

Offering Brock and Venom a place to stay, Bucky could understand. Offering the Rogues a place to stay? What the ever loving fuck had Tony been thinking? Bucky huffed out a breath as he remembered the fight that he and Peter had gotten into with Tony when he’d told them. Neither of them had thought it was a good idea given the history that Tony had with the Rogues, but there was no telling Tony that. _“I’m offering the olive branch,”_ he’d told them. _“Mistakes were made on both sides and they’ve indicated that they want to move on, so there’s no need to be petty and hold onto grudges. There’s more than enough room in the Tower and it makes sense for them to be close to Vision, Eddie, and Venom.”_

Leave it to Tony to be the bigger man. Bucky wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss him silly, hide him away somewhere safe, or strangle him. Winter had been upset as well but he’d cautioned Bucky to ease off, reminded him that Tony was a grown ass man and could make his own decisions, and questioning those decisions overly much would not do anyone any good. And Bucky got that, he _did,_ but Tony was too selfless at times and he tended to get walked all over. The last thing he wanted was for the Rogues to come waltzing back in, making demands, and believing that they had the higher ground simply because they’d gotten their own way. They likely wouldn’t see this as a favour to them, something done from the goodness of Tony’s heart. No, he was sure that they would see it as something they were entitled to. A place to live, food on the table, the way Tony was puttering away in his workshop there would probably be new gadgets and weapons soon enough as well. They’d get everything handed to them on a silver platter all thanks to a half assed apology given to placate the people, not done personally to Tony like it should have been done. At least they’d had to sign the Accords which was something.

“You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet if you keep that pacing up,” Tony said mildly, snapping Bucky back into the present. He didn’t say anything, just blew out a breath and slumped down on the couch next to him. “Are you still mad at me?” Tony asked. His voice was steady but there was a slight catch to it that told Bucky that Tony wasn’t coping nearly as well as he said he was.

“I ain’t mad at you, sweetheart,” he told him. “I don’t agree with you, and I’m worried that you’re gonna get hurt, but I ain’t mad.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Tony asked softly. He held a hand out to Peter and pulled him down to sit as well. “Both of you.”

“You can tell us anything, Tony,” Peter said, squeezing his hand.

Tony bit his lip, trying to gather the words, then finally said, “I miss them.” He smiled sadly. “I know it’s crazy, and I know that I have every right to tell them to fuck off and never come back, but I’m tired of fighting. I’m so tired of being at odds with everyone. For a brief time, a few years back, things were good with them, they were my friends, they were my _family,_ and I can’t help it, but I miss that. I know that it’ll be different - besides the fact that Thor and Bruce won’t be here, I’ve got you guys and so I’m not alone anymore.” He let out a self deprecating little laugh. “I won’t be so _needy_ anymore. But if I can find some semblance of what we had before...well, I think I’d regret it if I didn't try.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Bucky said and pulled Tony into his arms. “‘m so sorry, I’ve been so selfish. I’ve been so focused on worrying ‘bout you, and bein’ angry at them that I didn't even think about all the good you had with them.”

“They’re good people,” Tony said as he sat back up and then held a hand up to cut off Peter’s protest. “They are, Petey. Good people who have made some mistakes and some bad decisions, but ultimately they want to protect the innocent from all the bullshit out there. I’m not asking you two to become best friends with anyone, I’m just asking that you be civil. For me. Can you do that?”

“Sure we can,” Bucky said, then looked at Peter, raised a brow, and said firmly. “Can’t we, doll?”

Peter scowled. “I guess I can try. But only because Tony asked.”

Tony laughed and dragged Peter over to him for a kiss. “That’s all I ask, baby.” He glanced at the clock. “Right, we should head downstairs, they’ll be here soon.”

They made their way down several levels to the communal floor where the Rogues would be housed. Vision and Eddie were seated in the main lounge, along with Strange, Hope, and Scott and they exchanged pleasant greetings. Before they could say anything else, the elevator dinged and the doors opened and Rhodes led Rogers, Romanov, Wilson, Maximoff, and Barton onto the floor. 

The air seemed to crackle with tension and Bucky felt every muscle in his body pull taut, ready to spring into action if need be.

 _Steady,_ Winter cautioned softly from within.

Forcing himself to relax, Bucky murmured back, _I just want to keep Tony safe._

_And we will, moya dusha, but this needs to be on his terms._

_Understood._

_Don't think for a minute though that we'll sit back and just watch if they hurt him._ Winter's voice dropped to a growl. _We **will** tear them apart piece by piece if they do and we'll make them suffer before they die._

Bucky grunted silently. _Good._

The current team got to their feet and the two groups stood facing one another, sizing each other up. Rhodes was caught in the middle but he didn’t say anything, just gave everyone time to process. It was Tony who broke the silence and he strode forward, arm extended to Rogers, a small smile on his face. “Welcome back,” he said simply.

Rogers nodded and broke out into a grin. “It’s good to be back, to be home.” He took a deep breath. “Thank you, Tony. It’s good to see you.”

Tony nodded, caught the gaze of each of the newcomers, and then stepped back to his place between Bucky and Peter.

Barton watched them as Tony linked their hands together and sneered. “How’s the virtue, kid?” he directed to Peter.

“Fine,” Peter shot back. “How’s the leg?”

Barton’s eyes darkened and he glared at Bucky. “It never healed right - they had to break it again to set it straight.”

“Shame,” Peter said in mock sympathy.

“Clint,” Rogers said sternly. “Remember what I said about respect? Even if you don’t agree with it, you don’t say anything about their relationship. They’ve invited us into their home, which is more than they had to.”

Bucky wanted to point out that they hadn’t had to do _anything_ but figured it would simply rile the archer up even more. As fun as that would be, it wouldn’t make Tony or Rhodes happy.

“Whatever,” Barton said, rolling his eyes before looking away.

“So,” Rogers began, “there seem to be some faces we don’t recognise.”

“I was just about to make the introductions,” Rhodes said, and managed to keep the dryness in his voice to a minimum. “The tall guy at the end in the red cloak is Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. Next to him is Eddie Brock, and next to Scott is Hope Van Dyne.”

Romanov smiled at this. “We heard a lot about you from Scott.”

Hope inclined her head but her eyes lacked the warmth she held for her long term teammates. “Likewise.”

“Sorcerer Supreme?” Maximoff asked, eying Strange. “What does that entail?”

“It means that I’m the Master of the Mystic Arts and I protect our reality from those that would wish to destroy it,” Strange told her. “I have heard of your abilities, Miss Maximoff. Whilst you have power at your disposal, you lack the training and discipline to wield it to its full potential. I would like to offer you some guidance and training to help you if you are so inclined.”

She considered this and then nodded. “I would like that,” she told him.

Strange graced her with one of his rare smiles.

“And what do you do?” Wilson asked Eddie, eying him suspiciously as he took in the rumpled jeans and sweatshirt.

“Eddie is new to the Avengers,” Rhodes told him. “I think he’ll be a great addition to the team.”

“Really?” Wilson asked, looking less than impressed.

Eddie shrugged. “We can pull our own weight.”

“We?” Wilson asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Apparently being delusional is a super power now,” Barton snorted.

In the blink of an eye Venom had erupted around Eddie and he towered over the two men, his jaw gaping with row upon row of sharp, pointed teeth on display. **“We are more powerful, more resilient, and more useful than a snarky archer or a smug bird man will ever be.”** He looked contemptuously down at them as they stared, slack jawed. **“Do not get in our way, or hurt our friends, or we might find ourselves feeling peckish and decide that you would both make a good snack.”**

“What the actual fuck?” Wilson whispered, inching slowly away from Venom.

“Venom,” Bucky called, “why don’t you come over here and stop scaring them.”

Venom huffed once more before he stomped across the room and joined the others. Peter slipped an arm around him in a half hug, though he couldn’t reach Venom’s waist so he ended up hugging his thighs instead. 

“Okay, so that was a bad start,” Rogers said slowly, clearly trying to salvage what he could. “It’s uh, good to meet you, Mr Venom. And um, Mr Brock if you’re uh, still there.”

“Look, how ‘bout we get everyone settled in,” Rhodes suggested. “We’ll schedule a training session tomorrow so everyone can get to know one another a little more, but for today it might be best to just chill.”

“Agreed,” Rogers said.

“Right, well Tony has had rooms set up for you all down that corridor there, and the kitchen is fully stocked. You should all be familiar with the set up from your previous time here but if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be around for the next hour or two.”

“Would anyone be interested in joining us for a team dinner?” Rogers asked casually. 

“Sorry but I’m needed back at the Sanctum Sanctorum,” Strange declined, then wove his hands in a circle, created one of his portals and with a final nod towards Rhodes, stepped through and vanished.

"Wow," Maximoff said, her eyes slightly wide.

“Hope and I are having dinner with Cassie,” Scott told Rogers but sounded genuinely regretful. 

Venom turned and left the room without bothering to respond and the Rogues all managed to look relieved by this. 

“Anyone else?” Rogers asked, looking at Bucky hopefully.

“Thanks, but we’re not part of the team anymore,” Tony said, and Bucky was glad that Tony wasn’t completely throwing himself into his reconciliation efforts and was holding something back.

“Oh, okay then.” Roger’s kicked puppy look hadn’t diminished over the past couple of years. 

“Right, well, we’ll be off then,” Tony said, and they all turned towards the elevator.

“Bucky,” Rogers called, stalling them. “Could I, uh, have a moment to speak to you privately?”

Bucky turned and assessed him, and for a split second he saw the small, skinny boy that he used to be best friends with. Then his vision cleared and before him stood the man who had hurt his beloved, and caused them all so much grief. “No can do, Rogers - I have plans with my boyfriends. See ya round.” 

Hands still clasped together, the three of them went to the elevator, and as the doors slid closed, Bucky refused to meet Roger’s eye.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there's a few readers who haven't read the rest of the series, so just knoew that Ted and Lizzie are introduced in [Summer Days](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15753756/chapters/36637032) and were Tony's neighbours at their holiday cabin.

“Howard Stark eventually came looking for him, and in such a snit too. He stood on our doorstep, demanding we send his son home, like he suddenly cared after not seeing the boy for three full days! Well, I tell you, I gave that man a piece of my mind and told him that Anthony would be home when we were finished working on fixing up my tractor, and not a minute before, and he slunk home with his tail between his legs.”

They all laughed at Ted’s retelling and Tony leaned back in his chair, feeling more at ease than he had in the past month. The Overton’s were in town for one of Lizzie’s appointments and Tony had invited them to stay at the Tower so they wouldn’t need to get a hotel. It also gave them ample time to catch up, and being around the couple who had known about their relationship before the world had found out was a balm to all of them. They’d ventured out into the city and were sitting outside a cafe, drinking coffee and catching up, so engrossed with their visitors that none of them paid any attention to the stares or comments from people passing by.

Lizzie reached over and took Tony’s hand in hers, her papery skin cool against his. “That tractor is still going to this day,” she said proudly.

Tony smiled and squeezed her hand gently. “It’s a beast of a machine. I’d place money on it still working long after we’re all gone.”

Ted nodded. “They just don’t make ‘em the way they used to.”

“May!” Peter called, spotting his aunt and waving her over, and the conversation paused as everyone greeted her.

“I’m so glad you could make it,” Tony said as he hugged her.

“So am I,” she said, looking slightly frazzled and stressed.

“May, these are good friends of ours, Ted and Lizzy. They live up in Westlake where we stayed last summer.”

May beamed at them. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Ted said. “Forgive me if I’m too forward, but won’t you have a seat, you look dead on your feet.” He waved the waitress over and ordered another pot of coffee.

May sank down into an empty chair and waved off his concern. “I’ll be okay. Nothing coffee can’t fix.”

“You sound like Anthony,” Lizzy said with a laugh. “That boy mainlines caffeine like nobody’s business.”

“Hey!” Tony protested, clutching at his heart. “You _wound_ me, Lizzy!”

She swatted his arm. “Don’t be such a drama queen.”

He fake gasped, trying to look scandalised.

“Sorry, son, but she’s right,” Ted said, a twinkle in his eye. “You _are_ a drama queen.”

Everyone laughed and Tony stuck his tongue out at both of them, earning a scolding from Lizzy for not respecting his elders. The coffee arrived and everyone topped up their mugs, then were silent for a short time as they sipped their drinks, enjoying the warm sunshine. 

“I needed this,” May murmured, her eyes closed, the dark circles beneath them pronounced in the light.

“Things been rough?” Bucky asked.

She sighed and shrugged. “A little but nothing I can’t handle.”

Peter’s lips were pressed into a tight line and he looked torn between anger and guilt.

“What’s been going on?” Tony asked.

“Honestly, it’s nothing,” May tried to assure them.

“People are being dicks to her because of us,” Peter said, ignoring the glare May sent his way.

“Shit, sorry, May,” Bucky said, reaching over and giving her wrist a squeeze.

“Seriously, it’s nothing more than the prejudice of small minded bigots,” May said. 

“Small minded bigots seems to be what this country is full of,” Ted commented.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Bucky muttered.

“If anyone in particular is giving you grief, please let me know,” Tony told her. “I’m happy to step in and have a word.”

May shook her head. “I appreciate that, Tony, but I fear that that would only make it worse. Nothing any of us say will convince these people otherwise, and they like to make their displeasure of my support of you guys heard. I’m ignoring it as best I can, and I’m sure they’ll find something else to harp on about soon enough.”

Tony wasn’t so sure and it was clear to anyone that it was affecting May more than she was admitting to. He wondered when the last time she’d gotten a full night’s sleep was? She didn’t want to discuss it though so he respected her wishes and changed the subject. “So, what’s the gossip up in Westlake?” he asked the Overtons. 

Ted and Lizzie regaled them all with the small town gossip for a while, as well as a few more stories from Tony’s childhood. They ordered cake and more coffee, and soon Happy was pulling up at the curb to take Lizzie to her appointment.

“Oh, is that the time already?” she asked, looking surprised. “It’s been such an enjoyable morning. It’s been so good to chat.”

“We can catch up some more this afternoon and over dinner,” Tony promised, and helped her to her feet. She was using a walker now to get around and he pulled it over so she could lean against it. He waved Ted off as they made their way slowly to the car, Tony carrying Lizzie’s handbag and staying next to her so he could get the door and help her in. 

“Thank you, Anthony, it’s very sweet of you to put us up like this,” she said. 

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You’re always welcome, Lizzy.” 

Ted shook his hand and then got in the other side, and Tony waved them off as Happy pulled back into traffic. He headed back to the table and sat back down.

“She’s so frail now,” Peter said, a worried frown on his lips.

“Yeah, I know. Kind of shocked me a little,” Tony agreed. 

They were quiet for a while, trying not to dwell on Lizzie’s poor health, until Bucky asked May how work was going and the conversation picked back up again.

They ended up chatting the morning away and stayed for lunch as well, before May excused herself to go and do some errands. “Shall we head back?” Tony asked his lovers.

“Yeah,” Peter said, “I have to get some study done at some point today.” He had his final exams the following week and then high school would be over for him. Tony was a little disappointed that Peter had chosen to apply for NYU instead of MIT, although he couldn’t argue that it would be nice to have Peter close by. Peter had pointed out that he could always go to MIT for future degrees, but for now, after everything that had been going on, he couldn’t bear to be too far from Tony, Bucky, and Winter. Considering how much grief he was copping from his fellow students at high school, Tony knew that he’d want to be close by so Peter didn't have to deal with that alone if he was treated similarly by his university peers. 

They made their way slowly back to the Tower, enjoying the sun and the warm breeze, talking about their plans for a joint birthday dinner that they’d have for him and Peter next week. As much as Tony wanted to spoil Peter rotten for his eighteenth birthday, they’d agreed to a quiet dinner with just their closest family and friends invited.

“I still don’t know if I should invite Ned and MJ,” Peter told them, squinting against the bright sun.

“I know you’ve been drifting apart from them for a while now,” Tony said, “but you’re still friends, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m just worried that Ned will be more concerned with meeting the Avengers and asking about our sex life than hanging out with me.” 

Tony’s heart broke and he wished he could do something to fix the rift between Peter and the boy who had been his best friend since they were little. 

“‘m pretty sure that MJ can keep him in check,” Bucky offered. “And if he’s stressin’ you out too much, one of us can run interference,”

Peter nodded. “I guess.”

“Okay, so we’ve got May, Flash, Ned, and MJ,” Tony counted off on his fingers. “Rhodey, Vis, Strange, Scott, Hope, Eddie and Venom, Happy, and Pepper. Are we missing anyone?” He looked to Bucky. “Can Zee make it?”

He shook his head. “Nah, she’s in the middle of helping Shuri with a project and can’t make it.”

“That’s a pity. Okay, so I guess we have our guest list. Now, what sort of cake do you want, Petey?”

The cake discussion took them the rest of the way home and they were debating the merits of butter frosting versus fresh cream when they exited the elevator and headed into the penthouse. Tony led them to the kitchen to get some water when they stopped dead at the sight that greeted them.

Lizzie and Ted were back from their appointment and they had met Venom. Not Eddie, and not the small, cute appendage that Venom sometimes used, but the full on, eight feet tall hulking alien mass. For some reason, he was standing at the kitchen bench with Lizzie and he was stirring something in a bowl. He was also wearing a frilly pink apron that Tony had never seen before.

“What?” Tony asked, his eyes darting back and forth between Lizzie and Venom and Ted, who was sitting at the table. 

“Hello, dear,” Lizzie greeted him with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought maybe I could make dinner for us all tonight instead of going out to eat and I roped your friend into helping me.”

 **“We are making bechamel sauce for the lasagne,”** Venom said proudly. 

“Oooh, you’re making your lasagne?” Tony cooed. “That’s my favourite!”

“I’m making a few dishes, Anthony,” she told him. “Lasagna won’t be enough to feed so many hungry mouths.”

“Are you sure?” Bucky asked. “That’s a lot of effort to go to. If you don’t want to go out, we can always order in.”

She waved off his concern. “Piffle, dinner isn’t too onerous, especially with such a good helper as Venom. I can use the bench for support so I don’t need my walker.”

“Don’t even bother trying to talk her out of it, son,” Ted told Bucky. “When she gets her mind set on something, she ain’t likely to change it.”

“Okay then,” Bucky said, “what can we do to help?”

Lizzie brightened at the offer but before she could put Peter to work, Tony turned and pointed out of the room. “Go, Petey, you have studying to do.”

Peter pouted but leaned in to give Tony a quick kiss before doing the same to Bucky. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you guys later then.”

“Right, what do we need to do?” Tony asked.

Lizzie soon had Tony making a salad, and asked Bucky if he could make his mom’s potato salad. They all worked side by side in the large kitchen, with more than enough room even with Venom there. The symbiote was grinning happily as Lizzie showed him how to layer the pasta sheets with the meat and bechamel sauces and Tony was amazed at how easily his guests were taking meeting an alien in their stride. It was one thing to hear of such things on the news and TV but another to meet one in the flesh. As usual however, the couple were accepting of everyone and were more than happy to befriend Venom. 

After that, they were given the tasks of chopping meat and vegetables for a casserole, and Lizzie got to work on making several pies. Ted kept them plied with coffee and anecdotes, and Tony relaxed even more, enjoying the honest work of the afternoon. 

Much later, Peter had rejoined them, and Venom was taking the pies out of the oven for Lizzie when he froze, suddenly on alert. The conversation around them ceased as everyone’s eyes turned to him, watching as small tendrils of inky blackness grew from his shoulders and inched their way upwards, towards the ceiling vent, one of them getting bigger as it moved. Two of the smaller ones worked their way inside the vent grating, and then in one swift move, the grating was yanked away and the thicker tendril darted inside the crawl space. There were several loud thumps, and what sounded like a shriek, and then Clint Barton was being ripped from the ceiling and thrown on the ground.

He was covered in dust, and looked rumpled and he looked up at the group that had gathered around him with a sneer. “Howdy folks,” he drawled. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Tony snapped.

“You spyin’ on us?” Bucky demanded.

Barton shrugged. “I was curious who the oldies were.”

 **“That is none of your business!”** Venom roared at him, towering over him.

Lizzie had been clutching at her chest since the ungainly arrival and she was breathing hard. Her eyes narrowed and she picked up a wooden spoon from the bench and advanced on Barton, starting to beat him around the head and shoulders with the spoon. “How dare you? How _dare_ you? Being nosy and spying on us and giving an old woman near on a heart attack, you cheeky little shit! No honorable person sneaks around a building, watching people go about their day! You are disgraceful, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. What would your mother say if she knew what you were doing? She would curl up in disgrace, that’s what! How _dare_ you? I ought to take you over my knee and spank you blind, you arrogant little swine of a man!”

Everyone had frozen, watching Lizzie batten Barton with the wooden spoon, but as she started to tire and her movements slowed down, they started to snap out of it. Venom reached out with a huge hand and very gently pried the spoon from her weakening grip. **“Do not waste your energy on this one, Lizzie,”** he growled. **“We shall take care of him for you.”**

“Get him out of my sight, Venom!” she ordered, before her legs gave way and Bucky darted in to catch her before she hit the floor.

“Friday, have a medic sent up,” Tony instructed, as he moved to Lizzie’s side to check on her as Venom dragged Barton from the room.

“On it, boss,” she confirmed.

“Oh, there’s no need, Anthony,” Lizzie said, trying to wave off his concern. “I just need a minute.”

“Humour me, yeah?” he said, kneeling beside her and taking one of her hands in his. “I just want to make sure everything’s okay.”

She smiled, a little wanly, at him and submitted herself to his fussing. The medic arrived and he checked Lizzie’s pulse, O2 levels, and blood pressure, before assuring them that she would be fine so long as she rested. Tony thanked the man and after he was gone, they let Lizzie order them around from her place on the table, finishing off the dinner prep.

Venom returned, his big eyes fixed on Lizzie and looking worries. **“Are you okay?”**

“I’m fine, darling,” she told him, patting his bulging forearm. “Thank you for taking him away.”

**“We were going to eat his head but Eddie told us that you might prefer his head attached to his shoulders.”**

Lizzie laughed. “For now, yes, but if he causes trouble again, feel free to eat his head for me.”

Tony winced, knowing that Venom would take that quite literally, and just hoped that Barton wouldn’t show his face again for the duration of their visit. 

“Now, dinner’s almost ready so why don’t you go wash up and help set the table?” she said to the symbiote. “There’s a chocolate pie that has your name on it for dessert.”

 **“We** **_love_ ** **chocolate,”** Venom said happily, and headed over to the sink to wash his hands.

Tony shook his head, wondering how this ever became his life, but knew that he wouldn’t trade it for the world.


	11. Chapter 11

Winter held the massive bouquet of roses in front of him, peeking over the top as he tried not to walk into anyone in the foyer of Stark Tower. The security guard, Ralph, saw his plight and hurried over to the elevator to press the button for him. “Thanks, Ralph,” he said, giving him a smile.

“No worries, sir. Looked like you could use a hand.”

The doors opened and Winter stepped inside, but before they could close he heard a shout from someone calling to hold the door and Ralph, being the gentleman that he was, happily obliged. Winter tried not to groan out loud as he recognised the voice as belonging to Steve Rogers and he moved into the far corner of the carriage, hoping that the flowers would hide him from sight.

Luck wasn’t on his side.

“Bucky!” Rogers said, beaming at him. “How are you? I haven’t managed to catch up with you yet.”

Winter sighed and wondered how he should handle it. _Any suggestions?_ he asked Bucky.

 _Nope, do what you want,_ Bucky told him. _He’s gonna find out about you eventually so you can tell him if you want, or just pretend to be me if you prefer._

 _I_ **_prefer_ ** _not to talk to him at all,_ Winter grumbled.

Bucky chuckled. _Ignoring him is a valid option too. Just not a mature one._

“Bucky?” Rogers said again.

“Been busy,” he said, not bothering to elaborate.

Rogers rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, me too. Look, I was wondering if -” Before he could finish his thought, the elevator stopped at one of the R&D floors and the doors opened, revealing Tony. “Oh, hey, Tony,” Rogers said, stepping back to allow him to enter.

“Rogers,” the genius greeted him, amicably enough. He stepped closer to Winter and ducked around the flowers to give him a peck on the cheek. “Hey, Winter.”

“Hello, dorogoy,” he said softly.

“Are those for Petey?”

“Yes, we know how much he enjoys cut flowers.”

Tony leaned in and sniffed them. “Gorgeous, he’ll love them, Winter.”

“Winter? Why are you calling him Winter?” Rogers asked, looking between them with a furrowed brow.

Tony looked surprised. “You guys haven’t told him?” he asked Winter.

Winter shook his head, feeling cowardly. “Not yet,” he admitted.

Tony sighed as the elevator came to a stop at the communal floor. “Right, come on, let’s all get off here. I think it’s best we get it out in the open.”

Rogers frowned. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing to be worried about, big guy,” Tony assured him, clapping him on the arm with a familiarity that made something deep inside Winter ache. He knew how much Tony wanted to go back to how things had been, but the truth of the matter was, too much water had passed under the bridge to make that a viable option. Winter and Bucky had grave concerns that Tony was going to end up with his heart broken once again. A small, selfish part of him also wanted to keep Tony to themselves. Why did he need the others when he had the three of them plus their other friends? He tried not to think too deeply on that, knowing that it wasn’t something to be proud of.

He followed Tony and Rogers through to the living room which was thankfully empty. Settling the roses on the side table for now, Winter took a seat next to Tony and waited for the other shoe to drop.

“Bucky, what’s going on?” Rogers asked, sitting in a chair opposite them but perched right on the edge.

Winter suddenly felt stubborn and instead of answering, just jutted his jaw out.

Tony sighed. “You two haven’t been introduced as yet,” he explained. “Rogers, this isn’t Bucky, this is Winter.”

“I don’t understand,” Rogers said, and his expression morphed into one of indignation. “Is this supposed to be some big practical joke? Is that it? Because if so, I thought you were better than that, Tony.”

“It’s not a joke, Rogers,” Tony told him. “A little while ago there was an accident and Peter got hurt, badly. We didn’t think he was going to make it, and in fact, his heart stopped at one point. Bucky, well, he couldn’t take it, and he retreated.”

Roger’s eyes went wide. “You had a mental breakdown?” he asked the man he still thought was Bucky.

Winter glared at him. “Radi vsego svyatogo,” he muttered under his breath. “Bucky did _not_ have a mental breakdown,” he grit out.

“Winter was...created, for want of a better word, by Hydra,” Tony explained. “Not deliberately - they never knew he was there, not really. Essentially, the things they did to Bucky caused another consciousness to emerge, one that protected Bucky. That was Winter. When Bucky retreated, Winter resurfaced for the first time since their captivity with Hydra. Winter tried to coax Bucky back but he’d gone too deep, and couldn’t hear. It took the help of both Eddie and Venom but they finally reached Bucky and convinced him to come back. After he had, well he and Winter came to an arrangement and now they share their body between them.”

Rogers was still looking skeptical. 

“It’s true,” Winter told him.

Rogers shook his head. “I really can’t believe that.”

Sighing, Winter turned his thoughts inward. _Do you want to have a go?_

 _I suppose,_ Bucky replied but didn’t sound enthusiastic about it. 

Winter relaxed and soon he was sitting in the safe place in their mind and was looking out as if through a window. “I swear to God,” Bucky told Rogers, “if you even suggest that I’m crazy, I’m gonna smack you down so hard you ain’t gonna know what hit ya.”

Rogers blinked. “Bucky?”

Winter felt Bucky roll his eyes. “Yeah, _now_ it is, but before it was Winter.”

“I just don’t understand,” Rogers said, running a hand through his hair. 

“It ain’t that hard. Winter and I both share this body, and we’re very separate people.” He paused. “Oh, and we’re _both_ with Tony and Peter, so it’s actually four of us, not three.”

“Oh.”

“We done here?” Bucky demanded. “Cos we got a party to get to.”

This came as a surprise to Rogers. “A party?”

“Yeah, it’s a joint do for Tony and Petey’s birthdays.”

“Oh, right, um sure.”

Bucky huffed and then switched places with Winter once more. _You just don’t want to carry the flowers, do you?_ Winter asked wryly.

 _Nope, they weigh a tonne,_ Bucky said and Winter could feel him grinning. _Could you have gotten a bigger bouquet?_

_Petey deserves the best._

_That he does._

“We should get going,” Tony said, and stood up.

“Okay. Well, it was good seeing you, Bucky,” Rogers said.

“Not Bucky,” Winter told him.

“They’ve switched back,” Tony explained. 

“How can you tell?” Rogers asked, curious.

Tony looked surprised and waved at Winter as if to encompass all of him. “You just _can._ They’re so different.”

“Goodbye,” Winter said, then picked up the roses and headed for the elevator, with Tony close behind.

“Tony!” Rogers called, making them pause.

“Yeah?” Tony asked.

“Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

They stepped into the elevator and Winter sighed. Tony slipped an arm around his waist and rubbed his back in soothing circles. “It’s over now. How ‘bout we concentrate on the party?”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan.”

oOoOo

Peter could kiss MJ. He didn’t, since Bucky would more than likely rip her head off, but the sentiment was there. She and Ned had arrived, and as he’d worried, Ned had started to pepper Peter with questions about his relationship immediately. MJ took one look at his face and told Ned to shut it, but when he didn’t, she cried, “For crying out loud, they’ve been together as long as _we_ have, just quit it!”

Ned’s eyes went wide. “Wait, _you knew?”_

MJ shrugged. “Yeah.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“With the way you’re acting like they’re some kind of reality TV show, do you blame me?”

Ned actually had the decency to look chagrined at this and he offered Peter a sheepish smile. “I guess I’ve been a bit of a dick, haven’t I?”

“Ya think?” Peter half snapped on impulse but gentled his tone to add, “Don’t sweat it, alright. Just do me a favour and cut the crap.”

Ned nodded. “Sure. Sorry.”

“Hey, losers, what’s up?” Flash asked, appearing with a soda in his hand.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Ned asked, frowning.

“I was invited, same as you. Not hard to decipher,” Flash shot back.

Ned turned to look at Peter but he held his hand up to stall any complaint. “Ned, Flash is my friend, please don’t make a scene just because you don’t like him. It _is_ my birthday, after all.”

Ned looked like he wanted to protest but a well timed elbow to the ribs from MJ led to him simply nodding.

“Can I get anyone a drink?” Peter asked them.

“Sure, a beer would be great,” Ned said, and MJ agreed.

“Flash?”

“Yeah, I’ll just have one,” he said and quickly finished his soda while Peter headed for the kitchen and returned with the drinks.

“Are you not having one?” Ned asked.

Peter shook his head. “Uh, no, last time I drank, it ended up pretty messy,” he said, and caught Flash’s eye. They burst out laughing, even though at the time, it really hadn’t been funny at all.

“Oh, man, I’ll never forget that asshole being thrown through the window,” Flash cried. 

“Yeah, well, he deserved it,” Peter said.

“Oh, for sure,” Flash agreed. “Fucker couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”

Ned was frowning. “Are you talking about the fight you got into after the Decathlon trip?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t see what happened.”

Peter snorted. “Yeah, cos you were too busy off sucking face with MJ.”

Ned blushed and MJ punched Peter lightly on the arm. “Could you say that any louder?” she complained.

“Oh, please, it’s the worst kept secret in town,” Peter told her.

“He’s right - everyone knows,” Flash agreed.

“Really?” MJ’s eyes went wide and she looked worried.

“School’s almost over, surely your parents aren’t gonna care when you’ve got such good grades,” Peter tried assuring her.

“I guess.” She didn’t sound sure.

“So, what did the dude do?” Ned asked, getting back to the original subject.

Peter sighed. “He got a little handsy, kissed me even after I told him I was taken.”

“Wow, not cool.”

Peter shook his head. “Not at all. So I put him through the window.”

“And _I_ was the one who had to call Tony to come and get him because he was too drunk to even stand,” Flash added.

It was Peter’s turn to blush. “Didn’t need to stand after they came and got me.”

Flash and MJ laughed at the innuendo but Ned just gaped at him. “You had sex?” he whispered, sounding awed.

Peter took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to lose his temper. “Yeah, dude, because we’re _in a relationship._ It’s what usually happens, yeah.”

“Well, how was I to know how far you’d gone by then?” Ned protested. “It’s not like you _told_ me about any of this.”

And so it circled around once more. Before Peter had to respond, MJ grabbed Ned’s arm. “Hey, look, food! Catch ya later, guys,” and dragged him off. 

“I swear, one day I’m gonna snap,” Peter said, rubbing at his face.

“It’ll get better once he gets used to the idea,” Flash said, watching someone over Peter’s shoulder. He frowned and then tilted his head across the room. “Who’s that?” he asked.

Peter turned to look and saw Vision and Eddie speaking together. Flash had met Vision before so he said, “Oh, that’s Eddie Brock. He’s new to the Avengers.”

“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before,” Flash mused.

“Well, he used to be an investigative reporter so maybe then?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“He’s just moved back to town and has some...abilities, so Rhodey asked him to join.” Peter watched as Flash seemed incapable of taking his eyes off Eddie. He grinned. “Like what you see?” he asked.

Flash turned a shade of violet and stammered out, “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Peter laughed again and clapped him on the back. “Come on, why don’t I go and introduce you?” He had no idea if Eddie would be interested in an eighteen year old, but if not, at least he was sure they’d be able to have a nice conversation. And maybe if Flash was lucky, he would even get to meet Venom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [SmallRussianFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmallRussianFan/pseuds/SmallRussianFan) has pointed out that I was using the wrong word for darling so thanks for that! The other Russian translations below I got from Google Translate so apologies if I have butchered it even further :( Always happy to be corrected!
> 
> Dorogoy - darling  
> Moya dusha - my soul  
> Radi vsego svyatogo - For Fuck's sake


	12. Chapter 12

“Bucky,” Friday announced and he put down the book that he was reading and looked up at her nearest sensor. “Miss Maximoff is requesting to speak with you.”

He frowned. “Really? What about?”

“She has not said except that Doctor Strange has urged her to.”

“Huh. Well I guess if Strange thinks it’s a good idea then it probably is. Send her up, Fri, thanks.”

Bucky stood and wandered over to the elevator to wait for her arrival, glad that Tony wasn’t there. He knew that of all of the Rogues, Wanda Maximoff was the one that Tony feared most of all, even if he’d never admit it. The way that she had messed with his head, the way that she’d affected his PTSD, well, it was something that Bucky would fight to never allow to happen again, and nor would Winter. They would protect Tony with every ounce of their being. She might be able to take him out with her voodoo magic, but he and Winter would make sure that they got in some damage before then if it came to it. 

The doors slid open and revealed Maximoff, looking like a harmless college student in her knee high socks, tartan skirt and white blouse but he knew of the power within and he greeted her warily. “Maximoff.”

“Barnes, thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” she said and he noticed that she’d lost even more of her Sokovian accent during their exile. 

He gestured over his shoulder. “Come on in.” He didn’t lead her to the living room, not wanting to be somewhere where Tony could easily stumble across them if he returned early, leading her instead to a small sitting room down the hall. “Friday said something about Strange suggesting this,” he said as they sat.

She nodded. “Yes. He has taken on somewhat of a mentor role with me.” She huffed out a small laugh and shook her head. “You know that feeling you get when you’re in the presence of someone with so much knowledge that you’re shook to your very core with the realisation of how much you don’t actually know?”

He smirked. “Yeah, I get that with Tony all the time.”

She nodded, accepting this. “This past month has been eye opening for me. Strange has been very generous with his time and his knowledge and he has helped me control my power more than I ever believed I could.”

Bucky grunted and felt uneasy. He knew that Strange mentoring the witch was a _good_ thing but he still couldn’t help but have reservations about helping her to explore the full depths of her power. If she was dangerous before, she would be even more dangerous trained and in Bucky’s mind that equated to an even bigger risk to Tony. 

As if sensing his thoughts about Tony, she said, “Strange has also spoken to me of Stark.”

“Oh?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Strange has a way of opening your mind, of making you question everything you believe. He got me thinking of you.”

Bucky raised a brow. “Of me?” 

“Yes. He explained to me of the other presence in your mind, the one you call Winter, and how he came to be.”

“Winter isn’t just a ‘presence’,” Bucky told her, trying to be patient. “He’s as real as you or me, he just so happens to share my body with me.”

“I see. Is Strange correct though when he said that Winter is essentially _the_ Winter Soldier?”

He sighed. “Would ya like to meet him?”

She looked surprised. “You can choose when he comes out?”

Trying not to sound snappish he said, “Of course. As I said, he’s his own person, sentient and intelligent. He’s not an enemy lurking within, and he’s not a figment of my imagination. _He’s a real person.”_

“How is that possible?” she asked.

“Asks the woman who has _magic,”_ Bucky commented, unable to keep the snark from his tone. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You of all people should understand that Hydra’s fuckery had unintended results.”

She bit her lip. “Yes, yes that’s true,” she acknowledged finally.

“Look, meet him for yourself, ask him what you want, I can’t guarantee he’ll answer since -”

“He’s his own person,” she finished for him.

“Bingo.” Bucky closed his eyes and thought at Winter, using his cheesiest game show host voice, _Come on down!_

 _I hate you,_ Winter said back, but Bucky could hear the humour in it.

_She obviously has some agenda here so the quicker we get to the bottom of it, the quicker we can be sure that she ain’t gonna hurt Tony. Talking to you might help us with that._

_I never said it wouldn’t,_ Winter said mildly.

 _Sorry, I get snippy when I’m worried,_ Bucky said and imagined himself stepping into that safe place in their mind. As if summoned, Winter appeared in front of him, solid and real looking and Bucky knew that if a shrink ever got their hands on them, they’d have a field day.

Winter pressed warm, dry lips to Bucky’s and smiled. “I’ll take care of it, moya dusha.”

“Thank you, darling heart.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Then Winter was gone and Bucky was left to observe the real world through a window.

For how young she was, there was no denying that Maximoff wasn't intelligent. She recognised that Bucky had changed when Winter took over and she took a wary step back. “Winter?” she asked.

“Yes,” Winter replied. 

“It is nice to meet you,” she said, a little stilted as if assessing the threat level.

“I won’t hurt you,” Winter told her, waiting until he saw the minute signs of her relaxing to add, “Unless of course you hurt someone I love. Then you will suffer.”

She swallowed hard but didn’t protest. 

“So, you have questions,” he prompted her.

“Yes, if that is okay.”

He nodded in acquiescence. 

“You are who they refer to as the Winter Soldier?”

“That’s complicated,” he said. 

“How?”

“The Winter Soldier is a name given to The Asset, Hydra’s assassin. We’re not exactly sure _what_ Hydra did to create me, all we know is that it was unintentional and that they never suspected I was there. We believe I came into existence in part as a side effect of the bastardised serum that Hydra used, and in part as a result of the torture and pain that Bucky was subjected to. When it got too much for Bucky, I took over, but there were times when the Winter Soldier was me and there were times when the Winter Soldier was Bucky.”

“I see.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, perhaps you could tell me what the point of this meeting is,” he suggested. “That might help me understand what you want.”

Maximoff fiddled with one of the rings on her hand as she gathered her thoughts. “You and Stark are in love, yes?”

“Yes, we are. Bucky and Tony are as well, and then there’s Peter. Why is that important to you?”

“It’s just...I’m trying to figure out how that works.”

 _When a man and a man love each other very much,_ Bucky drawled in his mind and Winter bit back a smile. 

Maximoff sighed and said, “You, or Bucky, _one_ of you killed Stark’s parents. No one is denying that, are they?”

A flash of regret went through Winter for his actions and he felt the soothing warmth of Bucky’s love buffeting him. “No,” he said, “no one is denying that.”

“And yet he has forgiven you? He loves you. Loves you both.”

He took a shaky breath, still surprised some days that Tony did. “Yes, he does.”

“I don’t know how much you are aware of from Bucky’s time with us after we sought refuge in Wakanda or how much you know about me, but the long story short is that my parents were killed by one of Stark’s weapons. My brother and I were trapped for days in the rubble while another of his weapons, undetonated, lay close by. We waited for it to explode, to kill us too, but it never did.” She looked away for a moment, steadying her breathing. “At first I hated Stark and wished him dead. I willingly worked with Hydra to bring about his demise. After Pietro died, and I turned against Ultron, Stark took me in and although I didn’t _hate_ him then, I still resented him. When we fought at the airport in Germany, I would not have shed any tears if it had been him and not Rhodes who fell from the sky.” 

Winter tried to remain calm while he listened and was grateful that it was him that she was speaking to and not Bucky. Within their safe space, Bucky was ranting and raving, threatening all sorts of harm against her. Winter wasn’t _opposed_ to killing her if she was a threat to Tony, but he had more restraint than Bucky and could hold off before reacting. Of course, if he _did_ take action, the suffering he could put her through would be more horrific than anything that Bucky would ever attempt. They were weirdly balanced like that.

“Several weeks ago I made a passing comment to Strange about Stark, I honestly cannot even remember what I said, but Strange bought it up again later and questioned me about it. I still blamed Stark for the death of my parents and he sat me down and pointed out that Stark had managed to forgive you for the death of _his_ parents. That despite that, he loved you.”

She fell quiet again and Winter wondered where this was going. It almost sounded like she was reconsidering her previous beliefs but he stayed silent, allowing her to find the words herself.

“How could he forgive you?” she finally asked. “Not only were their deaths by your hand, but he also had to watch a recording of it. Isn’t that unforgivable?”

“When Bucky left the group after he was taken out of cryo in Wakanda, it was because Tony had fought to get him clemency. Yes, when he first saw the footage, he lashed out at Bucky but he wasn’t trying to kill him. If Tony wants someone dead, he has more than enough weapons in his suit to make that happen. Bucky wouldn’t have stood a chance against his unibeam if Tony had been aiming at his head or chest, but instead he used it to destroy his arm. Tony was distressed and he was grieving, he wanted to _hurt_ Bucky, but neither Bucky nor I honestly believe he was trying to kill him. 

“Afterwards, Tony had a chance to think about everything and he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t Bucky who killed his parents, it wasn’t me either, even though it was actually me in control that day. He understands that we were just the weapon and it was Hydra that killed his mom and dad. That’s why he can forgive us, because at the end of the day although it was our body that was used for the task, it wasn’t our decision to kill them. It wasn’t our choice.” 

Maximoff had curled her arms around herself and was looking somewhere over his shoulder. “I see,” she whispered.

“Look, Maxi - _Wanda,_ it may have been one of Tony’s weapons that killed your parents, but it wasn’t Tony. He built those weapons to keep his country’s soldiers safe. He didn’t knowingly sell them to the enemy and when he discovered that his mentor _was,_ he fought Stane and ended up killing him. I think it is also good to note that Tony took over the company from his dad, who was already in the weapon’s business. The first time that Tony got an up close and personal look at the death and destruction that the weapons caused, he chose to stop production. It’s one thing to test weapons on a range and explode some dirt, but when he saw young men and women killed by them, he knew that he couldn’t be part of that anymore.”

“So you’re saying that he holds no blame at all?”

“It’s not back and white,” he tried to explain. “Was it unethical to make money off making weapons? I guess it depends on what side you’re on but pacifists would say yes. The day that your parents were killed though, it wasn’t Tony who fired those missiles. I see that you’re not blaming the soldier who hit the button to fire it, or the ranking officer who gave the order. Why are you blaming the one person who is the _least_ to blame? Because I’m sure you’re smart enough to know that if they weren’t using Tony’s weapons, they would have been using someone else’s and your parents would be just as dead.”

She flinched a little at this but he knew that sometimes being blunt was the best way to get a point across. “I suppose so,” she conceded.

“Do you know what I think?” he asked.

She finally looked back at him and met his eyes.

“I think that you blame Tony because he’s a face you know. The soldier and the general and everyone else who was involved in firing that weapon that day are faceless, nameless, unknown. Tony was someone associated with what happened that you had heard of, you could turn on the television and see his face. He was _real_ to you and so you fixated on him.”

Instead of outright denying this, she gave it some consideration and Winter’s respect for her grew. “That is a possibility,” she said.

He gave her an encouraging smile. “Has this helped?”

She nodded. “Yes, it has. Can I ask you one more question?”

“Of course.”

“I know you’re biased, since you are with him, but do you honestly believe that he is a good man?”

Winter huffed out a laugh. “Yes, I’m definitely biased, but I can say, with all honesty, that yes he is. I fell in love with Tony long before he even knew that I existed and when Bucky retreated and I emerged, despite his suspicions and grief for what was happening at the time, he took the time to speak to me and eventually befriended me. He’d lost Bucky, Peter was in a coma, and yet Tony showed me kindness. I don’t believe a man that _wasn’t_ inherently good would have done that.”

She nodded. “Thank you. You have given me much to think about.”

“I’ll leave you to your thinking then,” he said.

She stood to go but paused at the doorway. “One more question?” she asked.

“I think I can manage one more,” he said.

“Do you think that _he_ will ever forgive _me?”_ She looked stricken and admitted in a small voice, “I did some terrible things to him.”

Winter stood and went over to her and squeezed her shoulder. “If he couldn’t, he would never have invited you into his home.”

She gave him a wobbly smile and then she was gone, and Winter sank back down into his seat, suddenly exhausted.

 _So, that was fun,_ Bucky quipped.

Winter groaned. _Let us never have to do that again._

_The good news is, I think you got through to her. Which means one less threat against Tony._

Winter couldn’t help but agree which made him feel much better about the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> moya dusha - my soul


	13. Chapter 13

Peter laughed as he threw a web out towards the next building, swinging through the darkness of the night. Queens was never really quiet, not even at this late hour and cars drove below him, people walked the streets, and the sounds of music and laughter from a nearby bar drifted on the soft breeze towards him. Behind him a dark mass leapt from building to building, following close on his tail and once or twice he felt the brush of a claw against his ankle, causing him to swing faster, do more to evade the pursuit. 

Eventually he came to a halt on top of the tallest building in the vicinity and he slumped onto a ledge, feet hanging over the side as he caught his breath. Venom appeared a moment later, leaping with ease up to the top of the lightning rod at the very tip of the building, and then jumping down to join Peter. **“That was most enjoyable,”** he rumbled before he melted away, leaving Eddie in his place.

“Eeep!” Eddie squealed and shuffled back from the edge, planting his back firmly against the building.

“Still afraid of heights?” Peter asked sympathetically.

“I wouldn't say that I’m _afraid_ of heights,” Eddie said, refusing to look down, “I just have a healthy respect for staying alive.”

Peter laughed. “Venom would never let you fall.”

He shook his head. “It almost happened once, right at the beginning. A plane went overhead at the wrong time and Venom disappeared. I fell, fell so far…” His voice trailed off and he shuddered.

A small head materialised from his shoulder and Venom nudged him gently. **“We have apologised for that,”** he said, sounding sulky.

“I know, love, and I don’t blame you,” Eddie assured the symbiote. “I just prefer it when our feet are on the ground.”

“We can go,” Peter offered, starting to get up. 

“No, no, it’s okay, I’ll be fine,” Eddie assured him. “At least if something happens to V, I’ve got you to watch my back.”

Peter fired a web at Eddie, sticking his legs to the ground. “There, all anchored in.”

“Thanks,” Eddie said with a smile. He finally looked out over Queens and then asked, “Do you miss it?”

Peter knew that he was talking about being an Avenger. “A little, but not as much as I thought I would. I’ve been getting out regularly to patrol this neighbourhood since I’ve had more time since school finished and most people have been real nice to me. There was one guy who was rude but when I saved him from a mugger he changed his tone pretty quickly.”

“There are dicks everywhere, kid,” Eddie told him. “They’re usually the loudest and the dumbest but most folks are alright.”

“Yeah, I know. I think that out of all of us, Tony is struggling the most. Bucky comes out with me sometimes, and he’s still been helping Rhodey with training, but Tony hasn’t even put on a suit since all of this happened. I know he misses flying, almost as much as he misses helping people.”

“Has he said anything?”

“Nah, he’d never complain. It might pain him but he’ll stick by his decision. He's working on a couple of projects which are keeping him busy.”

Eddie considered this. “Do you think it was the right decision? Resigning?”

Peter shrugged. “It was at the time, and I still think it is, but who knows what will happen in the future? I can’t see Tony taking a back seat for the rest of his life.”

Eddie grunted. “It’d be nice to have him on the field with us, that’s for sure.”

“Oh? Has something happened?”

“Nothing major, or trust me, you’d have heard about it. I just think it’d be good for Rhodes to have some backup sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, V and I have got his back, and so do Hope and the rest, but we’re the new kids. Tony was an original Avenger so he would be the best one to support Rhodes. It just feels sometimes that the others, especially from the original team are undermining him. It’s nothing overt, and they’re not ignoring orders or anything, but it’s clear that they disagree at times and they don’t hide it. Must make it hard for Rhodes and it would be nice if Tony was there with some oomph to back him up.”

“Given the way they feel about Tony it might make matters worse than better,” Peter said sadly.

Eddie shrugged. “Maybe. I guess we’ll never know. So,” he said, changing the subject, “are things from your graduation settling down?”

Peter groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Urgh, I’m _still_ mortified about that.”

Eddie laughed. “Getting in the paper isn’t _that_ bad, is it?”

“Of course _you_ don’t think so,” Peter teased, rolling his eyes. “I forgot I was talking to a journalist.”

“Hey!” Eddie protested. “I was an investigative reporter, not a mere journalist. Don’t tar me with the same brush!”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” Peter said, flapping his hand. “But I disagree - ending up with my graduation splashed across the front page of every major newspaper was _definitely_ that bad.”

He still shuddered when he thought about what he’d seen the day following his ceremony. The graduation ceremony itself had gone well enough - May, Tony, Bucky, and Winter were there to cheer him on and he’d even come away as top student for several of his classes. Flash had taken the honours of Top Student overall and it felt good to be congratulating him instead of moaning about it behind his back like he would have done if they hadn't become friends. They had been there when MJ officially introduced Ned to her parents as her boyfriend and they hadn’t been _too_ displeased and Peter was happy for them. After the ceremony, Tony had invited May back to the Tower for dinner, and when Peter had seen Flash looking down since his parents hadn't bothered to come to the ceremony, stating that they were too busy with important work commitments, he invited him along as well.

They’d shared an enjoyable evening, and Peter had been feeling good until he’d received a text from Flash the next morning telling him to look at any of the major papers. He’d bought up the online sites and groaned as he saw a photo of himself in his cap and gown receiving twin kisses to the cheeks from both Tony and Bucky. It had been a private moment and none of them had realised that someone had photographed them, other than the private photos that May had taken. Tony had been furious and vowed to look into it but Peter told him not to bother, knowing that it was likely one of his classmates who had made a little extra cash from selling the photo to the press. 

He’d hoped that the knowledge of their relationship would be old news by now but the fresh photo, taken at an event that screamed that he was still a teenager had only seemed to revive the scandal. The number of paparazzi dodging their steps had begun to diminish but the numbers picked right back up again and somehow word got out about which university Peter was going to be attending at the end of the summer. NYU’s student Facebook page had exploded with people talking about him, some wanting to know if Tony and Bucky would be making regular appearances (with some commenters wishing to get a front row seat to Peter’s dorm), others judging them harshly, but at least one or two were excited at the prospect of sharing a class with Spider-Man himself. 

“They’re starting to a little,” Peter replied, “but there's still enough scrutiny that it makes me uncomfortable.”

“I’m sorry, kid,” Eddie said, squeezing his shoulder. “It sucks that you’re having to go through this.”

 **“We could eat them all for you,”** Venom offered, making Peter laugh.

“I may just take you up on that,” Peter said.

**“Just say the word. We have not had heads to eat for some time now.”**

“Are you getting hungry?” Peter asked with morbid curiosity.

Eddie shrugged. “V needs certain chemicals in his diet, which are found primarily in human brains. We can go without for a little while but if we go too long then he starts to eat my organs.”

 _“What?”_ Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, it kinda sucks.”

 **“I don’t** **_mean_ ** **to eat you, Eddie.”**

“I know, love.”

**“That’s what bad guys are for.”**

“And,” Peter said, wanting to make Venom feel better, “you’re doing the city a service, if you think about it.”

 **“Exactly!”** Venom replied happily. **“And we only eat the** **_really_ ** **bad guys.”**

“Like nosey journalists?” Peter teased.

 **“If they are upsetting you then they** **_are_ ** **bad guys,”** Venom replied in a rather prim voice.

Peter laughed. “I’m glad I have you as a friend, Venom. I wouldn't want to get on your bad side.”

**“We would never eat you, you are one of our favourites.”**

“Awww, love you too,” Peter said, genuinely, and he reached out and stroked a hand down over Venom’s small head.

The symbiote made a sound almost like a purr and pushed his head against Peter’s hand while Eddie laughed and muttered, “Hussy.”

 **“I’m not the one with the date next weekend,”** Venom said and poked his long, long tongue out at Eddie from between his many pointed teeth.

“Oh, _really?”_ Peter asked, intrigued. “And who’s this date with?”

Eddie blushed and looked away but Venom answered for him. **“With Flash, the pretty boy we met at your party.”**

Peter grinned. “That’s awesome! I wonder why Flash didn’t say anything to me?”

Eddie sighed. “Maybe because he’s seen how many problems you’ve had with people given the age differences between you and the others.”

Peter considered this. “Maybe, though it’s not _that_ big between the two of you. Besides, I’d be the last person to judge him for it. I’m happy for you guys, I really am.”

“Don’t start ringing the church bells yet, Peter,” Eddie said, still blushing. “It’s just dinner.”

Peter grinned again. “I really hope you guys have a great date.”

“Thanks,” Eddie said.

“Of course, I’ll be making sure that Flash tells me all the juicy gossip afterwards,” he added slyly, making Eddie cover his face in his hands and groan.

 **“Don’t worry,”** Venom said. **“If Flash doesn't tell you, then I will.”**

Eddie groaned again and Peter and Venom laughed together and suddenly the issues that Peter was having didn't seem too bad.


	14. Chapter 14

Tony was with Rhodey when the call came in. 

“This is Rhodes, report. I see. How many assailants? Right, I’ll assemble the whole team. ETA fifteen minutes. Have law enforcement evacuate civilians but tell them to not engage, leave it to us. Rhodes out.”

Tony raised a brow as Rhodey hung up the phone. “Bad?” he asked, trying to ignore the urge to suit up and join them. 

Rhodey nodded. “Sounds like it is, yeah. Terrorist attack, there’s been one explosion already, multiple hostage situations, lots of firepower.”

“Be safe,” Tony said, pulling his best friend in for a hug.

“I will, always.”

“Call me when you’re done,” he added, knowing he sounded like a nagging spouse but not caring.

“Sure, honey,” Rhodey joked. “Leave a light on for me.”

Tony blew him a kiss. “I’ll keep your side of the bed warm, Rhodey Bear.”

“Ooh, is Rhodey joining us?” Peter asked, overhearing the last part of their conversation as he entered, carrying two cups of coffee and handing one to Tony.

Tony grinned and turned to Rhodey, batting his eyes. “If we’re really lucky.”

“I really think your bed has enough bears in it already,” Rhodey said dryly.

Bucky came in, carrying another two cups. “You know we’ll always make room for you, Rhodes,” he told him, smirking.

Rhodey shook his head. “I don’t understand how any of you get anything done. You’re all horny fuckers.”

Bucky laughed. “It’s why we’re perfect for one another.” He held up one of the cups. “I assume you don’t have time for this?”

Rhodey grabbed it off him and took a big gulp. “I’ll drink it on the way, I think I’m gonna need it.”

“Watch your back,” Bucky told him.

“Be careful,” Peter added.

“Come back safe,” Tony made him promise.

Rhodey gave them all a salute and then hurried off, the whir of his braces a soft hiss in the quiet.

Tony looked at the others and sighed. “I didn't realise how hard it would be to sit back and watch them all go without us,” he admitted. The Avengers had been deployed several times already, but not in their entirety. 

Bucky sat on the couch and held out his hands, and Tony and Peter allowed themselves to be pulled down next to him. “They’ll be fine,” he said.

Tony leaned his head against Bucky’s shoulder. “I know. But…”

“It doesn’t make it any easier, I know,” Bucky agreed.

“How ‘bout we watch a movie, distract ourselves?” Peter suggested.

“You guys don’t have anything else you gotta do?” Tony asked.

“Nothing more important than being with you,” Bucky said. “And Winter is having one of those days where he prefers to just stay in and watch the world go by.” They both nodded, knowing that sometimes it all got a little overwhelming for the ex-assassin and he just needed some Winter time. 

“I’ve got nothing else to do but you,” Peter told Tony with a grin.

“Well, if that’s the case,” Tony said, and he reached out and grabbed hold of Peter, dragging him half onto Bucky’s lap so he could reach to kiss him.

Peter smiled against his lips but then began to kiss Tony back in earnest, small whimpers falling from him everytime he paused to take a breath. Tony could feel Bucky’s hand on his back, trailing teasing touches up and down his spine, before falling further down to knead his ass. Shamelessly, he pushed his butt backwards, forcing himself more firmly against Bucky’s hand as Peter deepened the kiss even more. 

“So eager, aren’t ya?” Bucky murmured, slipping his hand between the waist of Tony’s jeans and his briefs, getting skin on skin. 

Tony pulled from the kiss, his head falling backwards in pleasure as one of Bucky’s fingers ghosted across his entrance. “Fuck, yes,” he cried, even as Peter latched onto his throat, sucking hard and not caring if he left a mark for others to see.

“Wanna be on your knees between us?” Bucky asked, his voice having dropped into a low purr. “Wanna take Petey from behind and take my cock down your throat?”

Tony whimpered in desire.

“Love seeing you like that, sweetheart, eager to please both of us at the same time, taking everything we give ya.”

Peter dropped down even lower and began sucking hard on one of Tony’s nipples through his shirt and Tony could feel tremors racing through his body, his muscles trembling. Peter was grinding against Bucky’s thigh as he sucked, and Bucky’s metal hand was cupping his ass, guiding him, playing both of them like a lute. He continued to whisper everything he wanted them to do to Tony and it was making him ache, his cock rock hard and weeping.

“Love watching your mouth stretch wide around me, sugar, taking every inch I give ya. Your mouth was made for sucking cock, so perfect, but that’s nothin’ on that fine ass of yours. Fuck, baby, but your ass is a thing of beauty, we love worshipping it.” He flexed his fingers as much as he could in the tight confines of Tony’s jeans and then grabbed hold of Tony’s ass check, squeezing it firmly.

Peter abandoned Tony’s nipple, coming up to kiss him fiercely once again and Tony couldn’t help but respond. Kissing Peter was like the drugs he’d done when he was younger but a hundred times more addictive and without the horrible side effects. He _wanted_ and he was in no state to articulate that thought so he poured everything he could into the kiss, hoping that Peter would understand, just as Bucky would understand what he meant as his body came alive under his touch.

“Too many clothes,” Peter gasped, and he was suddenly gone, having scooted backwards off the couch and onto his feet so he could strip out of his clothing. Tony and Bucky were quick to follow suit, and soon they were all naked, their clothing in an untidy heap on the floor. Bucky shoved the coffee table out of the way, making more room on the plush rug and then he twisted his metal hand into Tony’s hair and yanked him forward into a bruising kiss. Tony could do little but hold on and take it as Bucky’s tongue pushed into his mouth and tried to be everywhere at once. There was no finesse, it was wet and sloppy and not particularly sexy but it was Bucky’s own brand of possessive and Tony was happy to surrender. When he was finally released he took a step back, a little dazed and a lot turned on, and he just stared up at Bucky with wide eyes.

Bucky smirked and reached forward to thumb away a wet patch of saliva from the corner of Tony’s mouth. “So beautiful,” he murmured, then his hands were on Tony’s shoulders, pushing him down and Tony went without complaint. He allowed himself to be positioned by Peter, so he was kneeling on the rug, his head facing the couch. Bucky sat down, slouching back against the backrest, his legs falling open and his cock curving against his stomach, hard and wet. Peter was kneeling behind Tony and he heard the snap of a cap and then Peter’s fingers, slick and cool were sliding down his crack, circling around his entrance before slipping inside. 

Peter took his time, teasing Tony mercilessly as he fucked him with two fingers, only enough to prepare him but not enough to fill the aching need deep inside of him. He tried to shuffle forwards so he could suck Bucky, but Peter held him back, and Bucky watched with heavily lidded eyes as he slowly fisted his cock. Tony whimpered, needing more, but Peter shushed him, saying soothingly, “Soon, Tony, soon.”

“Need you now,” he whined, pushing himself back to thrust Peter’s fingers deeper inside of him.

“So impatient,” Bucky tutted, and began to play with his balls with his metal hand, rolling them around and tugging on them gently. It was a mouthwatering sight and Tony moaned.

_“Please.”_

Peter’s other hand soothed down his flank and he said, “You beg so prettily, Tony.”

“Pete, I need you, please.”

“What do you think, Buck?” Peter asked. “Has he waited long enough?”

“He’s been very good for us,” Bucky noted. “I suppose it’s only fair that we give him what he wants.”

“Would you like that, Tony?” Peter asked in a husky voice, crooking his fingers and rubbing deliberately across his prostate. “Do you want us?”

“So much, Petey, so much.”

“How do you want it?” Bucky asked him, scooting forward to the very edge of the couch, close enough now that he was able to paint Tony’s lips with his cock, smearing pre-come all over them. “Do you want us slow and tender? Keeping you on the edge until you’re a sobbing mess, begging us to let you come?” Tony’s lips parted a little at this and Bucky pushed the tip of his cock into his mouth, then withdrew it just as quickly. “Or do you want us hard and fast, fucking you brutally so you know nothing but the two of us, filling you from both ends, making it so you won’t be able to sit down or swallow for the next two days without the memory of what we did to you?”

Tony whimpered at this and nodded, causing Bucky’s cock to rub over his cheek and chin as he did so. “Fuck, yes, that one,” he gasped.

“Oh, sweetheart, your wish is our command,” Bucky said, and he wrapped his hands around Tony’s skull and as soon as Tony had opened his mouth as wide as it would go, Bucky was thrusting inside, not bothering to be gentle. His cock rammed into the back of Tony’s throat, causing him to gag and splutter but Bucky didn't let him go, just adjusted the angle of Tony’s head and pushed inside again, this time pushing until his cock breached the tight confines of his throat itself. 

Tony’s eyes rolled back in his head and his eyes watered and he loved every second of it, but it wasn't enough. He wiggled his ass, trying to get Peter’s attention since he wasn't doing anything, probably too busy watching Bucky fuck Tony’s throat, and Peter’s fingers brushed against his prostate once again. He moaned around his mouthful and wriggled again, and he felt Peter come alive behind him. His fingers slid out of Tony's ass but soon Tony could feel the blunt head of his cock and then Peter was pushing forwards, rocking in and out to spread the lube even deeper, but moving relentlessly forward. It had been a few weeks since Tony had bottomed last and it burned a little but he welcomed the sensation, wanting to be overwhelmed by it, so he could think of nothing else but what his lovers were doing to him.

Peter had soon bottomed out, his pelvis resting snuggly against Tony’s ass but he didn't give him any time to adjust, simply pulled out almost the entire way and then thrust sharply inside, the force of it sending Tony shunting forward until he was choking on Bucky’s cock, rammed down his throat. Bucky’s grip on his skull got tighter and he didn't pull back, just held Tony there, stuffed full from both ends, until the need to breathe was too much. Tony tapped Bucky’s thigh and he immediately pulled out, all the way, and Tony gulped for air, his cheeks wet with tears. Peter pulled back as well, giving him a breather, but as soon as Tony nodded, they both slid home, filling him with their cocks, giving him what he needed.

Tony began to float, lost in the sensation of his lovers, the push and pull, the hot slide, and the noise of skin slapping against skin. Peter was gripping Tony’s hips so tightly that he knew he would have bruises and the thought of that, and of the mark that Peter had left on his throat earlier, made Tony’s dick pulse and pre-come dribbled down over his aching shaft. They didn’t have to hide now, didn’t have to pretend that they hadn't been having hot as fuck sex, didn't have to worry that anyone would know. It was freeing, to know that they could leave behind hickeys and bruises without having to worry. The world knew that they belonged to each other and they were free to express that.

Peter and Bucky set up a rhythm and it wasn’t one pushing in, causing Tony to then be forced onto the other. It was both of them fucking into him at once, then pulling out, leaving him empty and wanting, before thrusting inside at the same time again. They kept it hard and fast at first but then they slowed it a little, going just as hard but leaving Tony fuller for longer, staying pressed against his prostate and completely blocking his airway. Tony could feel his balls beginning to draw up as his orgasm slowly built and he eagerly awaited each time that his lovers would pause deep inside of him. Then it was too much and he was coming, his dick swaying untouched beneath him, and his inner muscles contracted tightly around Peter’s cock and his whole body shuddered, forcing Bucky even deeper down his throat, and he came and came, longer than he could ever remember coming before.

When he was finally done, he wanted to just slump against Peter and Bucky and maybe take a nap, but they weren’t finished with him yet. As soon as he was done, they set a brutal pace, fucking into him, chasing their own pleasure now. His body cried out as it became overly sensitive but the onslaught didn't stop and he was filled over and over, his ass and his throat, until it was almost painful. Then he was being filled with more than just cock as hot semen pulsed down his throat, followed soon after by Peter filling his ass, and every nerve zinged as they were rubbed raw. 

Finally his lovers pulled out and away, and Tony felt himself topple down onto the rug and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes. He heard the murmur of soft voices and then he was being lifted in strong arms and then cradled against a warm body. He felt the warm touch of a soft cloth and he struggled to get his eyes open and saw Bucky hovering above him, gently wiping him over. “There you are, sweetheart. You doing okay?”

Tony nodded, and Peter’s arms tightened around him, and he felt a soft kiss brush over his temple. “Bucky will be back with some water, and then we’ll just snuggle here for a bit, okay,” Peter told him.

“‘kay,” Tony mumbled, and his eyes closed once more. It felt so nice to be held, and he cuddled up closer to Peter, nuzzling against his chest. 

“You were so good for us, Tony,” Peter whispered. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too.”

A moment later there was another hand on his face, tilting it away and pressing the mouth of a water bottle to his lips. “Come on, sugar, take a drink for me,” Bucky coaxed and Tony did, feeling the cool water soothe his abused throat. 

Then Bucky was settling down on the other side of Tony, pressing against him and cocooning him between his lovers. He smiled and felt himself drifting off to sleep, even as a movie began playing softly in the background. 

As far as distractions went, it had been a damn good one.


	15. Chapter 15

“Boss,” Friday said urgently, “you need to see this!”

The movie that they had been watching after their nap flickered off and live footage from several CCTV cameras began to play. It was of the area near Central Park where the Avengers had been deployed to the terrorist threat that had been called in. The team had been corralled together and were fighting in a circle. Both Rhodey or Falcon appeared to be grounded, and Tony asked, “Damage?”

“It appears that some sort of EMP was used,” Friday said. “Colonel Rhodes and Mr Wilson have been unable to use their flight capabilities.”

“There are contingencies in place in the suit for that,” Tony remarked with a frown. Luckily it appeared that whatever had been used hadn’t affected their ability to get back on the ground safely - Tony didn’t think he could handle it if Rhodey fell again.

“I don’t have any other data,” Friday apologised. “I’m not getting any feedback from the Iron Patriot armour.”

Red magic flew from Maximoff’s hands at the same time that Strange did something similar but before their magic reached their targets, it seemed to hit an invisible forcefield, shimmering in the air before fading away. Nothing anyone was doing was having any effect, despite the attempts of brute force by both Rogers and Venom, and the crowd of assailants moved in closer and closer, forcing the Avengers into a tighter and tighter circle. 

Then a man stepped through the forcefield, resplendent in a green velvet suit, cherry red leather shoes, and a silver tipped cane. He beamed at them all, his smile wide and toothy. _“Why hello! I’ve waited so long to meet you all!”_ he announced in a strong English accent, holding his arms out wide.

 _“Who are you and what do you want?”_ Rhodey demanded. 

_“You mean to say that you don’t_ **_know_ ** _me?”_ The man held a hand to his chest. _“You_ **_wound_ ** _me, Colonel Rhodes. You positively break my heart!”_

Rhodey’s face plate snapped up and he stared at the man with a raised brow, clearly done with the theatrics.

 _“My dear man, my name is Bertram Montague, also known as Lord Montague.”_ He looked around at them all. _“Really? Still nothing? Not ringing any bells at all?”_

 _“No,”_ Rhodey said from between gritted teeth. _“Regardless of if your reputation precedes you or not, I want to know why are you killing all these people?”_

Montague waved off his question. _“Merely a means to an end,”_ he replied. _“I hold no malice against the fine citizens of your wondrous city.”_

 _“You could have fooled us,”_ Rogers snapped, _“what with all the people_ **_dying_ ** _from those bombs you set off.”_

 _“What do you mean, a means to an end?”_ Rhodey asked. _“What end?”_

 _“Why, to get you all here in one place,”_ Montague said happily, and he held up a small device. 

_“So you can get your ass kicked by all of us?”_ Wilson snarked but it was more for show than an actual threat and they all knew it.

 _“Oh, no, no my dear,”_ Montague chuckled, shaking his head. _“No, you see, I am somewhat of a...hobbyist. I collect rare and valuable items, you see. I’m practically obsessed with it.”_

 _“Let me guess,”_ Romanov drawled, _“you got picked on a lot at school?”_

Montague flapped a hand. _“Yes, yes, I was a nerd and suffered for it, but I got over that long ago. Honestly, what some grubby school children said about me all those years ago is of no consequence._ **_Anyway,_ ** _as I was saying, I have a collection started and I’m about to add quite the motherload to it. It’s_ **_very_ ** _exciting.”_

Rhodey stared at the man incredulously. _“Wait, you mean that you think that you’re going to collect_ **_us?_ ** _”_

Venom snarled, and everyone else adjusted the grip on their weapons.

 _“Oh, there’s no_ **_think_ ** _about it,”_ Montague said with yet another chuckle, and then he hit a button on his device.

It was instantaneous for most of the Avengers, dropping to the ground as if frozen. Venom screamed and he seemed to pulse, and they could see him almost dematerialise and rematerialise over and over until suddenly he was gone and Eddie slumped to the ground, inky tendrils melting into him. The Cloak of Levitation raised itself from Strange’s limp body but one of Montague’s minions quickly subdued it, throwing a sack over the top of it and jumping on it before tying a knot at the top of the bag. 

Tony stared at the screen in shock, knowing exactly how the others were feeling at that very moment. He shuddered at the memory of careless hands reaching into his chest to disconnect the arc reactor.

“What the hell did he use on them?” Bucky asked.

“It’s the sonic paralyser,” Tony whispered.

Bucky and Peter turned to look at Tony.

“It was developed by SI years ago, it’s how Obie stole my reactor for his suit.”

“Can they fight it off?” Peter asked.

Tony shook his head. “So long as they’re subjected to the frequency, they’ll be completely paralysed.”

They all turned back to stare at the screen, which was now showing the assailants loading up the Avengers into a truck. 

“Boss,” Friday said, “the Secretary for Defence is on the line.”

“Thanks, baby girl,” Tony told her. “Put him through, and track that truck.”

“On it, boss.”

“Mr Secretary,” Tony said as an image of the man popped up in front of them.

“Stark, thank you for taking my call.” Hudson Denver had replaced Alexander Pierce as SecDef and although Tony had had very little to do with him, Rhodey had a lot of respect for the man. It made him much more polite when he replied than he ever would have been for Pierce.

“Of course, sir. You’re calling about the current situation with The Avengers?”

“I am,” Denver said gravely. “I know that you and your partners are enjoying a well deserved retirement, but this is an unprecedented situation. I know that you’ve not been treated well, and for that I am truly -”

Tony held up his hand to halt Denver. “Mr Secretary, please know that Bucky, Peter, and myself will do everything we can to assist you right now. There’s no need for you to apologise for the actions of others. We’re happy to help.”

The Secretary slumped in relief. “Thank you, all of you.” 

“We won’t have any issues from Ross?” Bucky asked.

Denver’s eyes narrowed. “I am second only to the President of the United States when it comes to the Defence of this country, son. Ross may believe that he has power thanks to his work with the UN on The Accords, but this is clearly an incident on American soil and has nothing to do with The Accords. I’ll ask for help from whomever I damn well please.”

Bucky smiled and nodded. “Good to hear, sir.”

“Will you be able to approach without being subjected to the weapon that he used on the others?” Denver asked.

“I’m familiar with it,” Tony told him. “It’s old Stark tech so we can get around it.”

“Good. Do what you need to do, Stark. You have my full support.”

“Thank you, Mr Secretary. We’ll keep you informed.”

“Very well. Godspeed.” And he was gone.

“Right, well it seems our retirement was short lived after all,” Tony said grimly. 

Bucky grinned. “We wouldn’t want to get slack. Coming to the rescue every now and then will keep us on our toes.”

“Have you got your suit?” Tony asked Peter.

He nodded. “Of course. Old habits and all. It’s in our room.”

“I’ll head to the armoury,” Bucky said. “Get what I need.”

“Great. In the third drawer to the left of your gun safe is a small box. Grab it while you’re there. They’re the devices we’ll need to block the paralyser. Suit up and meet back here in five.”

His lovers hurried from the room and Tony reached into his pocket, pulling out the small triangular disc that he’d taken to carrying around everywhere with him since he’d perfected it. It felt heavy in his hand, even though he knew that was entirely psychological since it was made from very thin vibranium, making it light but extremely strong. He’d tested his new suit a couple of times in the lab but he’d not taken it for a full test drive as yet. “Well, no time like the present,” he murmured.

A moment later and Bucky and Peter were back. 

“Where’s your suit?” Peter asked, looking around the room like he’d missed a six feet tall Iron Man suit. 

Tony held up the nanotech housing unit. “Here,” he said, and slapped it to his chest. He pressed and felt the slick movement of the nanites spreading out over his clothes, forming into the suit around him. Peter was watching in wide eyed awe, Bucky with a smile of delight as the armour encased him except for his helmet. “What do you think?” he asked with a grin. “It’s Nano tech.”

“That is so awesome!” Peter whooped. "I was wondering what you'd been working on!"

“Thought you’d like it.” Bucky tossed him the box he’d grabbed while arming himself with an entire arsenal of weapons and Tony plucked out three pairs of the devices. “These fit in your ears just like ear plugs and they’ll block the frequency from the paralyser but will allow much lower frequencies, like human speech though. They’re also a communication device and will act as our radios. Stay alert - this guy also has some sort of force field tech so we’ll have to watch ourselves.”

They popped in the devices, and they shared a quick kiss before Bucky hurried to the basement to grab his bike, and Tony and Peter headed out to the observation deck. “Let’s go save some asses,” Tony quipped, and watched as Peter flung himself off the deck, a web shooting out and attaching to the neighbouring building. Tony smiled grimly, then activated his helmet and then the thrusters, leaping into the air. 

It was good to be back.


	16. Chapter 16

Peter swung from building to building, following Tony as he made his way to the coordinates that Friday had traced the truck to. They passed by the scene of the attack by Montague, where emergency services were still cleaning up the scene. A dozen ambulances were leaving, having come back to transport the less injured to hospital, and several fire crews were mopping up the charred remains of several buildings that had been set alight during the bomb blasts. The first responders cheered as first Iron Man and then Spider-Man flew past and their support bolstered Peter. 

When they reached the outskirts of the city, where tall buildings for Peter to swing from were more and more scarce, Tony called out to Peter and he shot a web up at him, attaching himself to the armour so he could catch a lift with Tony. Below, Peter caught sight of Bucky, following them on his bike, and together they continued on.

Tony set Peter down near a row of old warehouses and Bucky skidded to a halt beside them. “According to Fri, they’re in the last warehouse on the left,” Tony told them. “Bucky, can you go ahead and scout the place and let us know what we’re dealing with? You and Pete will be able to get close without them being alerted but they’ll hear me coming so you breach the place and I’ll come in as backup.”

Bucky nodded and then melted away on silent feet towards the last building. A few minutes later he reported over the radio. _“Either this guy is over-confident and didn't expect anyone to come for them, or it’s a trap. There’s very few guards on the perimeter and they’ll be easy enough for us to take out. From what I can see of the inside there’s maybe ten guys, tops? It’s pretty dark inside but it seems to be one large room with a small office up on the mezzanine, and the men inside are ringed around numerous large boxes. I can’t make out many details but I’d say the others are inside the boxes since I can’t see anywhere else that they could be keeping them.”_

“Any sign of Montague?” Tony asked.

_“Negative. My guess is that he’s up in the office.”_

“Okay. Once you’ve dealt with the outside guards, you and Pete head inside and take out the other guards. I’ll head directly to the office and get Montague. You both okay with that?”

Peter nodded and Bucky murmured his assent over the radio.

“Keep your eyes open and watch your back,” Tony said. “If this is a trap, I don’t want us falling straight into it. Let’s go.”

Peter darted over to the warehouse, coming up behind a guard who was looking in the opposite direction and he knocked him out and webbed his up before he could utter a sound. He loped around the building until he found Bucky, who was trussing up two other guards with zip ties. Peter shot webs at their mouths to act as a gag but didn't think they’d be coming round anytime soon. “Are there anymore?” he whispered.

Bucky shook his head. “No, only the three. As I said, outside security is a joke.”

“Maybe he’s so confident that the sonic paralyser will take out everyone that he doesn't think he needs more guards,” Peter suggested. 

Bucky tilted one of the unconscious men’s heads and they saw that he had ear plugs in his ears. “Maybe. Right, you stay here and take this entrance, I’ll head to the front and hit there. Wait for my signal.”

Peter nodded. “Will do.”

It wasn't long as he heard Bucky say, _“Tony, we’ve got both entrances covered and are ready to head inside.”_

 _“I’m ready,”_ Tony confirmed. _“On your mark.”_

 _“Petey, you good?”_ Bucky asked.

“Yes,” he told them.

_“Okay, on three. Three, two, one - go!”_

Peter gave the door one brutal kick, sending it flying inside and he followed it close behind. There were shouts of alarm and several guards rushed him, and he ran forward, threw himself down and slid along the floor, taking out the legs of the first man. He shot a web at him, tangling his limbs together, then flipped up and punched another guard in the face, knocking him out cold. He was distantly aware of the sounds of fighting coming from across the room where Bucky had entered and there was also crashing and shouting from the mezzanine above. He didn't have a chance to look though as another two guards were coming for him, both aiming weapons at him. 

Shots echoed as both guns fired and Peter threw himself into the air, twisting to avoid the bullets. As he landed he fired a web at one of the guards, catching the gun so he could rip it from his hands, and then he flicked it at the other man, using it to knock his own weapon from his grip. Peter then jumped in a graceful arc over the top of both men and spun, grabbing hold of both of them and knocking them against one another, their heads banging the other painfully. He quickly webbed them together and then reached forward and plucked the earplugs from their ears, causing them to instantly freeze.

With no more guards coming for Peter, he darted around the boxes in the centre of the dark room to see if Bucky needed help but when he got there, he found the super soldier securing the six men he’d taken down. “All good?” he asked.

Bucky nodded. “Piece of pie. Even Winter is wondering what sort of joke this is.”

“Montague isn’t here,” Tony called from above them and they both turned to see him. The nanites of the armour peeled away from Tony as he walked down the stairs, retreating into their housing and Peter wished that they had more time for him to examine this new tech. It looked amazing, and - if he was being honest with himself - sexy as fuck. He couldn't wait to play with it. 

“Who was up there?” Bucky asked.

“Four more guards,” Tony said. “One of them looked to be the head of Montague’s security but he wouldn’t tell me where he was. He looked over at the boxes and said, “Let’s see if Earth’s mightiest heroes are here or if this _was_ just a trap.” 

“Give me a second,” Bucky said and he darted away to one of the walls where there was a set of industrial switches and he hit one of them, flooding the room with light.

Peter finally got a closer look at the boxes and he gasped.

“What the fuck?” Tony muttered.

The boxes were all tall and narrow, and were all standing up, facing inwards. The backs of the boxes were all painted, describing each of the Avengers, and included an action shot of each of them. As they made their way carefully into the middle of the circle they could see that the front of the boxes were mostly made of a clear material, maybe perspex or glass, revealing a body inside each one.

“Is it just me,” Tony asked slowly, “or are these giant Barbie doll boxes?”

He was right. Peter had seen similar boxes in the toy aisles of Walmart when he’d gone to buy Lego. The boxes had been decorated to look like the packaging of toys but instead of a doll inside, there was a paralysed super hero. The colours were bright and garish, each Avenger’s name splashed across the top in loopy lettering, and instead of the Mattel logo there was an eerily similar one that said ‘Montague’. Their weapons were on display next to them, so it was easy to see what ‘accessories’ each one came with, and it pained Peter to see them so close yet utterly useless to the frozen superheroes. 

“He’s turned them all into collectable figurines,” Tony was muttering as Montague’s words became clear.

“This is sick,” Peter whispered.

He heard Bucky snort and turned to hear him say, “Sexist much?” Bucky was standing in front of Romanov’s box which, on second glance, was bigger than that of Rogers’ and Wilson’s to either side of her. Peter saw the phrase ‘With extra outfit!” and next to the assortment of guns and knives was a slinky cocktail dress, five inch heels, and a sparkly handbag.

Tony was having Friday scan the boxes, checking to see if she could detect life signs and other tech and Peter walked around the circle, looking to make sure that everyone was accounted for. He paused outside of Rhodey’s and held a hand up to the front. “We’ll have you out in no time,” he whispered, hoping that Rhodey could read his lips. Rhodey’s eyes were wide, and they followed Peter as he moved, watching him go, the only part of his body that he had control over.

After Scott and Hope (who also had an extra outfit - a pastel pink ball gown with diamond necklace and tiara), Peter swore and hurried to the next two boxes. “Tony!” he cried.

“What is it?” Tony called.

“It’s Mr Banner and Thor!”

_“What?”_

Tony hurried over to see for himself and Peter watched as he stared in amazement at the two men. Tony placed his hand on Banner’s box and said, “Has he had you this entire time, Bruce?”

Bucky was standing behind them, keeping watch on the rest of the room, his gun at the ready but he glanced over his shoulder. “Didn’t Thor used to have long hair?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, he did.” The short hair didn't make Thor look any less handsome and more than anyone, he seemed to resemble Surfer Ken in his clear faced doll packaging. The box was decorated with thunder bolts and scrawled across the bottom was a slogan saying, _Mjolnir included!_ even though the silver hammer inside looked to be made of plastic.

“Haven’t they been missing for ages?” Peter asked Tony.

He nodded, his eyes still glued to his friend. “Bruce disappeared when we were fighting Ultron, and Thor went back to Asgard and we hadn't heard from him since.”

“Can you get them out?” Bucky asked.

“It looks like the boxes will be easy enough to force open,” Tony said, walking around Banner’s box, “but we’ll need to figure out where the sonic paralyser is being broadcast from and get it turned off if we want them to walk out of here. Otherwise we’ll need to transport them far enough away until they’re not being subjected to it.” He paused and looked at Peter. “Do you mind swinging up to the ceiling and checking to see if there’s anything up there?”

Peter nodded. “Of course.” He webbed himself up to the iron rafters that supported the ceiling, landing softly on a wide beam and looking around. He squinted across towards the mezzanine and from his position he could see that the office didn't quite take up the entire floor. He moved quickly across the beam, heading towards it and when he got there, he looked down at the wall of the office that held a large window overlooking the warehouse floor. From there he could see through the window and the far wall of the office definitely didn't match up with the edge of the warehouse. He swung down, hanging from a web as he examined the off looking wall. “Karen, can you tell if there’s a space behind here?” he asked.

She scanned the wall and said, “You are correct, Peter. There is indeed a cavity behind the wall that is not part of the main office space.”

Peter nodded and then swung out and over to the balcony on the mezzanine, then headed inside the office, ignoring the unconscious guards that Tony had subdued and the furniture that had been toppled in the fight. He went straight to the far wall and began looking for a latch or something that would reveal an entrance to the hidden room. It didn't take long and a door was swinging open, revealing the space beyond. 

It was dark but he fumbled against the wall and found a light switch. Light flooded the small space and revealed a cluttered room, full of furniture and crates, as well as an old refrigerator, its doors open and the room smelling vaguely of damp. Peter pulled off his mask and moved further into the room, his eyes scanning for anything that looked like an amplifier for the sonic paralyser. He moved behind an old bookcase with several of the shelves missing and paused, his eyes going wide as he took in the sight of more of the ‘doll boxes’ that the Avengers were currently trapped in. These were empty but already decorated and he gulped as he read the names on the new boxes.

Iron Man.

Spider-Man.

The Winter Soldier.

“Fuck,” he said under his breath, and turned, meaning to cry out for the others. He froze as he came face to face with a man in a green velvet suit, twirling a cane in his hands.

“Why hello, Spider-Man!” Montague gushed. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to meet you. You’ll make a lovely addition to my collection!”

Peter felt rather than heard someone approach from behind him but before he could do anything a hand had reached out and plucked out one of his ear plugs from his ear. His body immediately seized up and he couldn’t move at all, all of his muscles frozen beyond his control. 

Montague grinned and held up a small device. “I believe you were looking for this? Come, let’s go and meet the others. And don’t fret, my dear boy - I’m a romantic at heart. I’ll make sure that your display case is next to those of your lovers.”


	17. Chapter 17

Winter watched through Bucky’s eyes as Tony crouched down in front of the lurid green box that held his friend, Bruce Banner, trying to find a way to release the catch on the box. He shivered, the boxes being a little too similar to the cryogenic chamber that Hydra had used to put himself and Bucky on ice for months, sometimes years at a time. The entire set up was downright creepy but that wasn’t what had Winter on edge. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this entire thing was a trap, one that they’d walked right into. Surely the warehouse would have been better guarded than it had been? It wasn’t like it was a small operation - this Montague fellow, had managed to capture the entire Avengers team, not exactly an easy feat. He clearly had the manpower and the resources to stage a fake terrorist attack to lure them to one location, and then to overpower them. Then once he had them all he just _left_ them behind with a minimal guard? There hadn’t even been a security system in place! It simply didn't make sense.

 _I don’t like this,_ he whispered to Bucky, feeling his own unease mirrored back at him.

_I know, darling heart, it’s not sitting right with me either._

_What should we do?_

_There’s not much we can do but stay on alert._

“Buck?” Tony called. “Do you still have that small tool kit on your bike?”

“Yeah,” Bucky confirmed.

“Could you grab it for me?” He grimaced. “The problem with using untested tech is that sometimes it doesn’t do what you want it to do.” He held up one of his hands and the fluid looking nanites washed over his hand, forming into a gauntlet before their eyes. “I’m having a bit of an issue with the nano tech forming the small tools that I want it to. I don’t want to dawdle so it’ll be faster to do it the old fashioned way than to try and get it to cooperate.”

Bucky nodded but Winter could sense that he didn’t like leaving Tony alone anymore than he did. Tony could get easily distracted by a problem and if all of his concentration was on trying to get the boxes open, he might not notice someone sneaking up behind him.

“Watch your back, sweetheart,” Bucky reminded Tony as they turned and left, his eyes scanning the room constantly, with Winter picking up anything that he missed.

 _That tech is amazing,_ Winter murmured as they walked, yet again astounded at the brilliance of Tony.

 _I know. There ain't seem to be much that Tony can’t make or build,_ Bucky agreed.

Winter paused for a moment and then said, _I just hope that it’s never used against him like this sonic paralyser was._

Bucky paused at the entrance to the warehouse and darted a look outside, checking for danger but there was none. The place was deserted. _I think Tony’s a lot more careful now with tech. Before he gave it all over to Stark Industries and that Stane fellow took advantage of it. Even now that Pepper’s in charge, he keeps stuff like this locked away in his own lab._

Anger churned in Winter’s gut. _What do you think our chances are of reviving Stane so we can kill him again. Slowly._

Bucky chuckled as they jogged over to where they’d hidden the bike. _As much as I’d enjoy that, I wouldn’t want to put Tony through havin’ to see that dick again._

_True._

Bucky retrieved the tool kit and tucked it into a pocket of the tactical pants he wore, then made his way briskly back to the warehouse. They both scanned their surroundings and yet still there was nothing. The area was eerily quiet. 

As they approached the door, Winter felt a tickle on the back of his neck and as Bucky came to a sudden stop, he knew that he had as well.

 _Something’s wrong,_ Bucky said silently.

 _I know,_ Winter agreed. 

They didn’t dare risk entering via the entrance they’d left from but instead circled around the building until they came across a window that Bucky had seen through when they were originally scouting the place. Sneaking a glance inside revealed nothing untoward - Tony was still working on the boxes, having moved back to the silver box that Rhodes was locked inside of, all else quiet.

 _Peter should have been back by now,_ Winter said, trying not to let his worry bleed through too much.

 _I’m gonna get us in but I won’t alert Tony,_ Bucky decided. _If there_ **_is_ ** _someone else there, we don’t want to give ourselves away._

 _Sounds like a plan,_ Winter agreed.

Bucky pulled a set of lock picks from a pocket and jimmied the old lock on the window, which gave easily. Moving as slowly as possible to prevent the glass from making a noise as it was lifted, he gradually opened the window until the gap was large enough for them to pull themselves through and into the warehouse. Dropping on silent feet, Bucky ducked down low and darted across to several metal drums, hiding behind them. Once certain that they were well hidden, they took a better look around.

A small scuffling noise reached their enhanced hearing and Bucky looked up towards the mezzanine. A moment later there was movement and five men appeared, two of them carrying Peter, who was as stiff as a board. 

_Son of a bitch!_ Winter cried.

 _I think he’s okay,_ Bucky tried to assure him. _He’s been hit by the sonic paralyser._

Montague was in the lead, still wearing his velvet green suit and holding his cane. and he snapped his fingers and gestured for the men to follow him down the stairs. His eyes fell on his unconscious guards but he didn’t seem the least perturbed, even though he only had four guards left now, two of which had their hands full. 

Bucky hit his comm and whispered, “Tony, you have incoming,” but the radio was dead.

 _I think he’s using some sort of tech to block our frequency,_ Bucky muttered.

 _Let’s hit him now!_ Winter urged, itching to take the bastard down. _Before he gets to Tony._

 _No, let’s not rush in,_ Bucky cautioned. _He’s confident which tells me that he may have a weapon up his sleeve that could get Peter and Tony killed. At least we know the sonic paralyser isn’t lethal. Let’s move closer if we can and gather more intel before we make a move._

Winter grudgingly agreed and they moved through the shadows of the walls, inching closer, using whatever they could as cover. Winter found that it was hard to hold himself back from calling out to Tony to warn him and he felt a wave of calm directed his way from Bucky. He made an effort to push everything down, to channel the detached manner that he used to have when he was the Winter Soldier, but now that he’d been able to have emotions, to express them, to explore them, he found it all the harder to bottle them back up and lock them away. 

They had just moved behind a crate that gave them a view into the circle of boxes to where Tony was when they saw him flinch as Montague strode casually up, his guards close behind. They saw Tony’s eyes narrow as he took in Peter’s stiff form but then he was standing up, loose limbed and seemingly unaffected by the circumstances, projecting an air of cool authority. “Montague,” he said, almost pleasantly, “I was wondering when you’d be showing up.”

“Tony Stark!” Montague exclaimed, the hand holding his cane going to his chest, a wide smile on his face. “Oh, I’m simply overjoyed!” He looked around and then leaned in and whispered in a conspiratorial manner, “Just between you and I, I confess that Iron Man is my favourite Avenger. You’ll be the star of my collection.” He held a finger up to his lips. “Don’t tell the others, I wouldn’t want them getting upset.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Tony drawled. 

Montague looked around and a small frown appeared. “Alas, our dear Bucky Barnes seems to be absent. Wherever has he gotten to?”

Tony waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, Buck got bored so he headed home. Not much for him to do here really.”

“Really?” Montague said, raising a brow. He gestured to the guards that weren’t holding Peter. “Find him,” he ordered.

“They’ll have to head to Stark Tower to do that,” Tony said. “I’d suggest they go the long way round, avoid that mess you caused earlier. It’ll delay them a bit.”

Montague’s smile was back. “Always so flippant!” he exclaimed. “It’s what I’ve always liked about you. The way you handled the Senate Hearing when the government tried to take the suit off of you was pure joy.”

“You do know that if you plan on putting me in one of these boxes, you’ll be denied hearing my snark, don’t you?” Tony said dryly.

Montague clapped his hands together and beamed. “Oh, but I’ve thought of that! You see, I’ve gathered together my favourite sound bites of yours and have programmed them into your display clase. All I’ll have to do is press a button on your case and I’ll hear you in all your glory!”

“I’m surprised you don’t just embed a chip inside of me that produces a noise when you pull a string in my back,” Tony spat.

“Oh, no, that would be terribly difficult to access while you’re in your display case, my dear. No, this way is much more convenient.”

“Well, so long as it’s _convenient_ for you.”

While keeping an ear on the conversation, Bucky and Winter kept an eye on the two guards but luckily for them, they were rather bad at their jobs. They only gave the most cursory glances to the outer edges of the warehouse, and seemed to spend the majority of their time checking the outside of it. They returned and told Montague that Bucky did seem to have left.

“Well, it’ll be easy enough to catch him later,” Montague said. “In fact, I’m sure he’ll willingly hand himself over.”

“You really think so?” Tony asked. “Are you stupid? Bucky would never just hand himself over.”

“Oh, I very much think he will,” Montague disagreed. “In fact, you’re not going to put up much of a struggle either.”

“And what makes you think that?” Tony demanded.

“Why, because you’re _in love,_ my dear man! And you’ll do anything to keep your beloved safe. The same way that Barnes will hand himself over to me, to keep you safe.” He smiled benevolently. “Here, allow me to demonstrate.” And from within his jacket pocket he pulled a small revolver and pressed it against Peter’s temple. “See,” he said, quite calmly. “If you don’t remove those handy ear plugs of yours, I’ll shoot him, simple as that.”

Deep in the silence of their mind, Winter growled.

“You wouldn’t do that,” Tony hedged. “You wouldn’t hurt your _collectables.”_

“Oh, I’m not denying that it will be a shame,” Montague told him. “It will pain me to not have the full set, though I still have to find a way to get my hands on the Black Panther as it is. Do you know how difficult it is to get into Wakanda?” He huffed in exasperation. “It’s nigh on impossible. But I digress - at the end of the day I will have the suit and those lovely web slingers and really, who’s to know what’s under the mask? I could put _anyone_ in there and none would be the wiser! Yes, it won’t be _authentic,_ but sometimes you have to settle for second best and if it gets me both Iron Man and the Winter Soldier, then it’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

“You’re insane,” Tony breathed. “Absolutely bat shit crazy. We’re not collectible figurines! We’re _real people!”_

Montague cocked the gun. “I won’t ask again,” he said. “Remove your ear plugs.”

Tony hesitated a second but Montague pressed the barrel of the pistol closer against Peter’s head. Tony reached up with both hands and slowly moved them to his ears, but from their position, Winter and Bucky could see nanites crawling up the back of Tony’s neck, out of sight of Montague. Winter was certain that Tony was going to replace the ear plugs with plugs made of nanites but would it work? Would they be too small to form properly with the untested technology? If Tony hadn’t been able to form the tools he’d needed, could he form these? And would they be able to block the frequency even if he could? 

He decided that he wasn’t going to wait and see. 

This madman was threatening the people that he loved and he was going to put a stop to it. Wrenching control away from Bucky, Winter ran from their hiding spot, moving around the boxes, keeping them between Montague and his thugs so they wouldn’t see him approaching. He heard Montague say, “Catch him,” and he glimpsed two of the guards moving forward to take hold of Tony, who had either actually been paralysed or was faking it very convincingly.

In his head he heard Bucky sigh. _Don’t get anyone killed, and that includes you._

 _I won’t,_ Winter promised, knowing that he’d feel bad after it was all over and done for forcing Bucky out of the driver’s seat. He just simply couldn’t allow Peter and Tony to be at Montague’s mercy a moment longer. 

He rounded the final box and threw himself at Montague, crashing into the man and taking him to the ground. Both the pistol and his cane fell from his grip. The pistol skittered across the ground, coming to a halt at the base of the box with Rogers inside and the cane ended up in the middle of the open space. Montague tried to wriggle free from where he was tangled with Winter, one fist coming up to punch Winter in the head but he batted it away, ignoring the blows. It didn’t matter what the man did now, Winter wasn’t going to let him get away. He could hurt, maim, or even kill him but Winter would make sure that he finished the job first. He wasn’t going to let this man get away with hurting Peter and Tony. 

_Don’t kill him,_ Bucky whispered.

 **_What?_ ** Winter roared into their mind. _He killed dozens of people in his attacks today, he would have been responsible for thousands more by taking the Avengers out of commission. If anyone deserves to die, it’s him!_

 _Darling heart, please,_ Bucky all but begged. _Neither Peter nor Tony would want you to kill for them._ There was a pause. _And neither would I. We’ll detain him and let the authorities deal with him._

 _Fine,_ Winter spat. He twisted around Montague, pinning him to the ground and pressed down on a specific point on his throat, rendering him unconscious and then he sprung to his feet. The two guards holding Peter had frozen, unsure if they should allow their captive to fall to the ground, or to keep hold of him whilst their boss got his ass kicked. Winter threw himself into a skid, sweeping a leg across their own, sending them flying backwards, then pushed himself up, catching Peter in his arms before he could hit the ground. 

He heard a thud behind him and turned around in time to see Tony taking out both of the guards holding him, the nano tech suit forming into a gauntlet and firing upon both men, knocking them out cold. With all threats eliminated, Winter set Peter down on the ground and Tony hurried over to them, offering up his own ear plugs since the nanites were sufficient for him.

The result was instantaneous. Peter jerked as the frequency of the sonic paralyser was blocked and then he was throwing himself at Winter and Tony. “Thank you,” he whispered before kissing first Winter and then Tony.

“Are you alright?” Winter asked, running a hand over his shoulders and checking for injuries.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry, I didn’t find the transmitter - I came across some of those creepy boxes meant for us and then Montague came up behind me.”

Tony crossed to Montague and searched through his pockets, pulling out the transmitter. He put it on the ground and stomped down hard, crushing it to bits and then allowed his nanites to retract. “It’s safe now,” he said, and Winter and Peter removed their ear plugs.

The Avengers had also recovered instantly and several of them started banging on the inside of the clear faces of the boxes, the sound muffled through the thick material. 

Winter pulled the tool case from his pocket and tossed it to Tony. 

“Thanks, Winter,” Tony said and then turned to the Avengers. “Give me a second, I’ll have you all out in a jiffy," he called to them all, causing them to settle.

One by one the Avengers were released from their boxes, all of them stretching and shaking off pins and needles from being locked in one position for so long. Thor swept Tony into a giant hug as he was released, his voice booming throughout the warehouse. “Stark! It is so good to see you, my friend!”

Banner’s greeting was more sedate but it was clear that both men were overjoyed to see one another. “Thanks, Tony,” he said. “I knew you’d come for us.”

“Bruce, where the hell have you been?” Tony demanded. 

“It’s a long story,” he replied. “I’ll tell you later over coffee. God, please tell me you have coffee?”

Tony laughed. “As much as you can drink back at the Tower.”

Rogers approached Winter, looking almost shy. “Um, Winter? It is Winter, isn’t it?”

Winter nodded. “Yes.”

Rogers smiled. “I thought so. You ah, move differently to Bucky.”

 _Well look at that, he can learn after all,_ Bucky said dryly. 

“Thanks for coming for us,” Rogers continued. “You didn't have to, being retired and all. We appreciate the save.” He held out a hand.

Winter paused only a moment before he grasped the hand and shook it. “You’re welcome,” he said.

“Maybe we could join Tony and Bruce for coffee?” he suggested. “So I can get to know you a little, get to know the man who’s rooming with Bucky?”

“No thanks,” Winter said as Roger’s face fell. He waited a beat, mostly at Bucky’s instance before saying, “I don’t like coffee. But I wouldn’t say no to a cup of tea.”

Rogers beamed.

 _He’s going to be insufferable now,_ Bucky warned.

 _Oh, get over it,_ Winter told him. _He’s trying - the least we can do is try too._

 _Fine, but when he gets clingy and wants to be besties, I’m hiding in here and you can deal with it,_ Bucky grumbled.

_Whatever you say, moya dusha._

Strange and Wanda were moving amongst Montague and his unconscious guards, using magical bindings to secure them, Lang was asking Hope if he could keep his box (" _It’s pretty cool, it comes with a mechanical ant!”),_ Barton was grumbling about Montague but was conspicuously silent about any complaints to do with their rescue, and Rhodes was on the phone to SecDef. The others were all talking quietly amongst themselves so Winter crossed over to join Peter and Tony, pulling Peter in to press a kiss to the spot on his temple where the gun had been pressed. “You both okay?” he asked quietly, needing reassurance.

“We’re fine, love,” Tony said, and wrapped an arm around his waist. 

“How’s Bucky?” Peter asked.

Winter turned his attention inwards. _You okay?_ he asked.

 _Just peachy,_ Bucky drawled. 

_You want out?_

_Fuck no, you can help with the clean up. I’m happy chillin’ in here._

Winter snorted. “He’s feeling lazy,” he told his partners. 

They both laughed and moved even closer to Winter, bracketing him from both sides. 

“So, shortest retirement in history do you think?” Tony asked after a while.

“Probably not,” Peter said, “but I think it’s well and truly over for us.”

“Is that a problem?”

Peter shrugged. “I was probably too young to retire anyway. It’s all good.”

“What about you guys?” Tony asked Winter.

“We may be old, but we’ve got a few years left in us,” he said.

“Glad to hear. How ‘bout we get out of here? I have tech to perfect since I’m now earning my keep again.”

“Don’t forget you also have coffee to brew,” Peter reminded him.

Tony looked over at Bruce and smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

“Happy to have him back?” Winter asked, knowing the answer.

“Yeah, I’ve missed him. He’s a good friend.”

“Well, let’s not waste time here then,” Winter told him. “Let’s get home so you can start catching up.”

Tony grinned and kissed them both once more. “Home. That never gets old.”

And home they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This felt the right place to end this fic, but it's not the last you'll hear from our boys. This series will have one last installment, though I'm not sure when I shall be posting it. There's a project that I'll be working on with sassy_boo_bear first that you might enjoy - a Tony/Bucky/Peter/Loki fic :D 
> 
> Feel free to [stalk me on Tumblr](https://scarletmanuka1.tumblr.com/). It's a multiship blog but these guys feature heavily.

**Author's Note:**

> malen'kiy pauk - little spider


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